In 1995, the California Chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and the Los Angeles Unified School District made a commitment to a novel community outreach program known as the Breathmobile, an "asthma clinic on wheels" that provides free diagnosis, education, treatment and medications to children with asthma and allergies at their school site.

Inner-city residents, particularly those in lower socioeconomic groups and ethnic minorities, have been disproportionately affected by asthma.  To address this need, the Breathmobile program was designed and created to overcome barriers and deliver long-term asthma care to children residing in urban areas.

The Breathmobile, a 34-foot mobile clinic is staffed with a team of interdisciplinary asthma care specialist that provide regular and continuing follow-up care to children at their school site.  Children who remain in the program for one year have a 76% reduction in hospitalizations, 62% reductions in emergency department visits, and a 75% reduction in missed school days from asthma.  An average of 2 visits is required for patients with mild and moderate asthma to achieve control, whereas patients with severe disease required an average of 3 Breathmobile visits.  Evaluation studies have further demonstrated dramatic health improvements for patients treated on the Breathmobile, including fewer ER visits, improved pulmonary function, decrease in school absenteeism, and an improved quality of life.  The program has engaged thousands of patients and their families in a continuity of care model that has demonstrated efficacy over usual episodic "rescue" care.

Nearly 15 years later, the Breathmobile program has steadily evolved to a more comprehensive and integrated Pediatric Asthma Disease Management Program (PADMAP) and now includes 15 mobile clinics throughout the nation.  12 of the 15, operate in California alone; the other 3 units are located in Phoenix, Baltimore and Alabama.  They visit nearly 500 elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and several comprehensive health clinics.  Since inception, the Breathmobiles have collectively treated more than 120,000 children!

On February 14, 2002, the program was recognized as the first in the United States to receive the award of disease-specific care certification by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
Asthma is a serious public health concern and is the number one cause of school absences and the leading cause of children's visits to emergency rooms and sadly results in the cause of more than 5,000 deaths a year.  Low-income and uninsured residents are particularly at risk because they do not have access to preventative and ongoing medical care.  Despite more than a decade of education and research-oriented intervention programs, inner city children with asthma continue to engage in episodic patterns of healthcare and experience a disproportionate level of morbidity.  However, as a result of the Breathmobile program, an established and sustainable community-wide pediatric asthma disease management program has been created and has effectively helped to shift inner city children from acute episodic care to regular preventative care and has successfully proven that consistent specialty care keeps children "in" school and "out" of the emergency room.