A Multi- Institutional Collaboration to Develop a Successful Asthma Education Program for School Settings in South Texas

Purpose: To discuss the collaboration of numerous academic, government, and community-based institutions to implement an asthma education program for targeted schools in Hidalgo County, Texas. Background: Annually, asthma is responsible for nearly 25,000 hospitalizations in Texas, totaling more than $446 million in hospital charges.

Methods: Organizational coordination to train nursing and respiratory therapy students to promote healthy indoor environments with a focus on asthma and exposure to environmental triggers. Trained students delivered asthma education to low-income Mexican-American elementary and middle school students in Hidalgo County. Results: Since its inception in June 2009, the program has trained 224 health professionals. Identified grade school students with asthma are trained by nursing and respiratory therapy students to recognize environmental asthma triggers, what actions to take at the onset of an asthma attack, and proper use of asthma medication. The proportions of correct responses showed a significant increase in 4 out of 5 questions (Chi-square test, p <0.01). And more than 95% of the participants reported being “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the training. Conclusions: Partnerships are needed in order to leverage financial and human resources when striving to improve the quality of the environment and human health in a region. They create a diversity of opportunities for increasing knowledge and improving the quality of the environment. A key element to the success of this program has been the willingness of all partners to share information and work together to resolve many obstacles encountered when creating networks and implementing programs.