Add this item to your checklist if your child has asthma: a written asthma action planGet advice from your child’s doctor.
“For 7 million children in the U.S., asthma is a lifelong disease that requires daily care. But with proper treatment, most children who have asthma can spend as much time in the classroom, or being physically active, as those who do not have asthma,”James P. Kiley, Ph.D., is the director of the Division of Lung Diseases (NHLBI) at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Asthma can be controlled this school year
* Work with your child’s health care provider to create a written asthma action plan. This plan will outline what you should do each day to manage your child’s asthma, and how to deal with it when it becomes worse. Asthma symptoms or attacks can include wheezing and chest tightness. The written action plan can be used to help you and your child prevent or treat symptoms. It will also help you manage severe asthma attacks quickly and allow your child to participate fully in school activities.
* Share copies of the asthma action plan with the school nurse, teacher and coach. School staff can work together with you, your child, and your child’s healthcare provider to prevent asthma attacks.
* Make sure your child has easy access to quick-relief medicine at all times. With their signed consent, children with asthma may use and carry their own quick-relief medication at school in all 50 US states and District of Columbia. The school can be given a second inhaler by you and your child’s healthcare provider. If your child cannot or won’t use the quick-relief medication on their own, ensure that an inhaler is always available to your child’s school nurse (or designee). Also make sure your child knows how to contact emergency services if his asthma gets worse.
The website is available to be visited www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/links.html for these publications from the NHLBI’s National Asthma Education and Prevention Program: How Asthma Friendly Is Your School?, Asthma & Physical Activity in the School, and a sample Asthma Action Plan. These publications can be used to help your child, and the school, manage asthma during this school year.
