Keeping children in the classroom – creation of an asthma-free school zone

While many school-based efforts to address asthma among children focus on asthma management, a multidisciplinary school team approach aims to prevent asthma illness and absenteeism through organized activities and communication. The Asthma Free School Zone model trains teachers, parents and community members to recognize indoor and outdoor environmental asthma triggers and take action to reduce the risk from those triggers. The #1 medical reason children miss school is asthma; creating an environmentally healthy school zone helps to keep children in the classroom. This presentation illustrates the year-long process, complete with challenges, hurdles and successes, that one organization is taking to create an environmentally-aware school and surrounding neighborhood. Among other health and safety measures, the Asthma Free School Zone program steps include: creating a school team, designating a school zone with no-idling and no-smoking signs, delivering health information trainings, and guiding environmental assessment walk-arounds. Site-specific activities are based on the needs of individual schools, such as, air sampling, street greening, improved traffic flow, or other outdoor environmental concerns. Aiming to raise community-wide environmental awareness, the program seeks the participation of two or more schools in a geographic area. The program goal is sustainable, safe and healthy school neighborhoods comprised of informed individuals who are able to recognize and address local environmental concerns.