Asthma and Schools Update
Together with health care providers, parents, and community representatives, the San Diego Regional Asthma Coalition launched a campaign on World Asthma Day 2009 to encourage parents, schools, and primary care providers to develop an asthma action plan for children affected by the disease called “Every Child, Every Time, Every Place”.

“For asthma sufferers, flare-ups can occur at any place and at any time. That’s why it’s extremely important for parents, for schools, and for primary care providers to have an asthma action plan for each of their patients,” said San Diego County Supervisor Ron Roberts.

“There is no cure for asthma, but people can control it,” said Dean Sidelinger, M.D., M.S.Ed., Deputy County Public Health Officer. “Every child—and every adult—with asthma should have an asthma action plan. It should be updated every time the patient is seen by their doctor and the asthma action plan should be available at every place the child spends time, whether at home, at school or at grandma’s house.”

City Heights is one of the areas in the county with the highest rates of asthma, asthma deaths, and emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to asthma. In the fall of 2008 a middle school student from City Heights died from asthma complications.

Housing Update
San Diego hosted one of five regional Healthy Housing Symposiums in California leading up to the first “Healthy Housing for California” state-wide strategic planning meeting held in San Francisco. The Healthy Housing Symposium brought together elected officials, health, housing, environmental advocates and the community to understand healthy homes issues and begin discussions on how the San Diego region can work together to improve its housing stock. Besides asthma as a topic of conversation, the health burdens for those who inhabit substandard living conditions include exposure to lead, cancer causing air pollutants and a lack of basic needs such as plumbing and heat. Presentations at a legislative session and a community forum educated participants about healthy homes best practices and laid a foundation for future strategies and collaborative projects to ease these health burdens for residents.

Outdoor Air Quality Update
Westside, or “Old Town”, and National City, located just south of the City of San Diego, is an environmental justice community that is the victim of discriminatory land use decisions made in the 1950s and 60s that allowed industrial polluters to be located next to homes, schools, and churches. Asthma rates in Old Town and throughout National City are significantly elevated. Beyond the health risks associated with air quality, there have been several fires and chemical spills which have caused nearby Kimball Elementary to become a shelter. After a very extensive process, the proposed land-use Specific Plan is coming before the National City Council for a vote in Summer/Fall of 2009. The draft plan calls for a prohibition of all new polluting business, and sets the stage for re-location of polluters currently in the neighborhood.

Click here to see previous coalition spotlights