Asthma & Kids: 6 Simple Tips & Tools for Parents to Manage Their Child's Condition
Nemours Enterprise
Monday, May 12, 2008 @ 03:39 PM EDT
KidsHealth.org provides answers, advice, and comfort for families with asthma.
Wilmington, DE – According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, 9 million U.S. children have been diagnosed with asthma. In fact, asthma flare-ups are the #1 reason for kids frequently missing school and are the most common cause of pediatric emergency room visits due to a chronic illness.
May marks Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month, and to help parents cope with their child’s asthma KidsHealth.org, the most visited website devoted to children’s health and parenting information, offers 6 simple tips:
- Understand the asthma action plan. Make sure your child has an asthma action plan, and ask your doctor to explain what to do for your child’s asthma at each step.
- Set up a schedule. Follow the steps on your child’s action plan at the same time every day. Make sure medicine is part of your child’s daily routine, like teeth-brushing.
- Use asthma management tools. Be consistent with recommended daily meds to prevent flare-ups. Do not rely on rescue medicines.
- Don't smoke. Cigarette smoke is a common cause of asthma aggravation in children. Encourage anyone in your family who smokes to quit.
- Control your environment. Limit exposure to allergic triggers that can aggravate asthma; for instance, if pet dander is a trigger, keep pets out of your child’s bedroom. Ask your doctor if special mattress and pillow covers might be helpful if your child has a dust mite allergy.
- Make sure your child has an active lifestyle. Asthma shouldn’t keep kids on the sidelines. Preventive medicines help to keep asthma under control, so kids can play sports and keep up with their friends.
“Asthma can be a very scary thing for kids – and their parents – which is why education and understanding are so important,” explains Hemant Sharma, MD, Visiting Fellow at KidsHealth.org and Fellow, Pediatric Allergy and Immunology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Some kids have only mild, occasional symptoms while others have more severe asthma, which without proper care, can dramatically limit how active they are and cause changes in lung function. With patient education and the right asthma management plan, families can learn to control symptoms and asthma flare-ups more independently, allowing kids and parents to do the things they love.”
KidsHealth.org has created three distinct, age-appropriate Asthma Centers that include interactive features, movies, printouts, and hundreds of articles written specifically for parents, kids, and teens. Families can find information, including:
- Daily Asthma Diary
- Asthma Dictionary
- Asthma Action Plan
- Asthma Movie – “What Happens During an Asthma Flare-Up?”
Click below to visit the KidsHealth Asthma Centers:
For more information about asthma, visit www.KidsHealth.org
About KidsHealth®
KidsHealth creates engaging online, print, and video media about a wide range of health and family issues. KidsHealth has a physician-directed, professional editorial staff -and is the largest resource of online children’s health, behavioral, and developmental information written for three distinct audiences: parents, kids, and teens. KidsHealth content is also available in Spanish. Each year, over 140 million families turn to KidsHealth.org for expert answers, making it the Web’s most-accessed site on children’s health. Recent accolades include the 2008 Webby Award for Best Family/Parenting Website and the Webby’s 2008 People’s Voice Award for the same. In recent years, KidsHealth was previously honored as the Webby’s Best Family/Parenting Website and Best Health Website, and was selected as one of the 30 Best Websites by U.S. News & World Report and one of the 50 Coolest Websites by TIME magazine. KidsHealth also creates KidsHealth in the Classroom, a free website for educators featuring standards-based health curricula, activities, handouts, and more. KidsHealth comes from The Nemours Foundation, one of the largest nonprofit organizations devoted to children’s health. For more information about KidsHealth, please visit www.KidsHealth.org
modified: Monday, May 12, 2008 @ 03:40 PM EDT
created: Monday, May 12, 2008 @ 03:40 PM EDT
About Nemours
Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, is dedicated to achieving higher standards in children’s health. Nemours offers an integrated spectrum of clinical treatment coupled with research, advocacy, and educational health and prevention services extending to all families in the communities it serves. Starting with Alfred I. duPont’s bequest over seventy years ago, Nemours has grown into a multi-dimensional organization offering personalized clinical and preventive care focused on children.
Nemours owns and operates the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware and major children’s specialty clinics in Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Jacksonville, Orlando and Pensacola), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Bryn Mawr) and New Jersey (Atlantic City and Voorhees). Having recently received preliminary approval from the State of Florida, Nemours will establish a new full-service children’s hospital as part of an integrated pediatric health campus in Orlando. KidsHealth.org, the world’s most visited pediatric health care Web site for parents, kids and teens, is a project of Nemours.
Nemours employs over 4,400 individuals, including 430 pediatric physicians, specialists and surgeons who cared for approximately a quarter of a million children in 2007. The organization’s goal is to align with parents, physicians, community leaders, children’s advocates and elected officials to ensure optimal wellness for every child. Additional information about Nemours can be found at www.nemours.org.
