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| California Air Resources Board Takes “Wait and See” approach to Rail MOU |
| ALAC starts E-Petition to Encourage the EPA to Support Stronger Air Pollution Standards |
| California Breathing Disparities Mini-Grants: A Mid-Way Progress Report |
| New Resource: HRSA Releases 2005 Report on the Health and Well-Being of Children in the US |
| EPA Announces Two Funding Opportunities for Environmental Justice Work |
| Save the Date: Smoke-Free California Where We Live, Work & Play Conference Set for May 16-17, 2006 |
| Preliminary Results from the Asthma Health Outcomes Project Announced Via Web Cast |
| What are you doing for World Asthma Day? |
| Got an Event You Want to Publicize? Use the CAP Event Calendar! |
| New Resource: NEETF Develops Clinical Guidelines for Environmental Management of Asthma in Children |
| Recent FDA Rule Changes May Have a Positive Affect on People with Asthma |
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Over the last half year, the CAP Steering Committee has been closely monitoring a staff implemented Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the two major rail companies operating in California. Air pollution advocates raised several concerns upon implementation. First, because it was developed and implemented without benefit of a what they consider to be a meaningful public process that engaged stakeholders and other public agencies engaged in local regulatory efforts. Second, advocates feel that the provisions of the MOU do not go far enough to reduce diesel pollution in California and severely curtail current and future regulatory action of both state and local agencies.
As a result of public outcry, the CARB held a series of public meetings to discuss the MOU and scheduled a final vote on whether to rescind the MOU for January 27th. Despite the Board’s directive that staff clarify several ambiguities within the agreement prior to a final vote, staff chose to focus the majority of their report on one provision, the termination clause, leaving other questions unanswered. (For the complete report, go to: www.arb.ca.gov/railyard/railyard.htm).
Despite this, the Board voted to "take no action" at their January 27th meeting, which means that the MOU still stands. The Board took a “wait and see” approach to the MOU because it has the authority to rescind (get rid of) it at any time. They decided to keep the MOU operational for another six months to allow adequate time for evaluating effectiveness. Staff is expected to report back in six months on implementation, at which time the Board will decide if they want to keep or rescind the MOU.
Over the next few months, community organizations will be monitoring implementation as well to observe ways in which the MOU is, or is not, working and report this to the Board. If you would like more information, please contact Lourdes Cordova Martinez, with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, at lcmartinez@aqmd.gov or Melissa Lin Perrella, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, at mlinperrella@nrdc.org. |
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The American Lung Association of California (ALAC), a CAP partner organization, recently launched an e-petition to encourage health professionals to tell United States Environmental Agency (EPA) Administrator Johnson that the proposed new national standard for particle pollution falls far short of what is necessary to protect public health. The e-petition currently has almost 60 signatures and the ALAC is stepping up their efforts to get the 200 signatures they need by the March 8, 2006 deadline.
To view the online petition to US EPA Administrator Johnson available, go to http://lungaction.org/campaign/epapmstandards. For more information, contact Vandana Bali, Director of the Clean Vehicles Program for ALAC, at 415-775-1065 or vbali@alac.org. |
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Although asthma rates are similar across all age, race, ethnic, and socio-economic lines, minority and low-income sufferers experience substantially higher rates of deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits due to asthma symptoms. This could be a strong indication that traditional methods of outreach and clinical care for asthma are not completely effective in meeting the needs of high risk populations. In an effort to mitigate these disparities, California Breathing ( www.californiabreathing.org) began funding community-based organizations and clinics to implement projects directly focused on reducing disparities in outcomes for minority and low-income people with asthma.
The 2005 cycle of California Breathing’s Disparities Mini-Grants is currently underway and the grantees, eight in total, are making great strides. Several of these community-based organizations are taking a “train the provider” approach, providing educational training on relevant issues for different professional groups, including physicians working with low income families and day care providers for low-income children. Others are directly targeting impacted populations through outreach to families living in public housing and farm workers on the California-Mexico border.
Other notable projects include:
* The American Lung Association of Central California (Fresno), which used funds for a teen asthma camp where the focus was on self-management skills and avoiding asthma triggers such as secondhand smoke;
* The Coalition for Community Health (Los Angeles), which is focusing on improving communication between healthcare providers and patients and their families; and
* La Clinica de la Raza (Oakland), which is conducting a pilot study of in-home assessments for approximately twenty children with asthma. They also have plans to conduct a follow up evaluation with these children after the initial assessment.
California Breathing is pleased with the progress to date and looks forward to a third round of disparities mini-grant program starting early in the spring of 2006. The Request for Proposals (RFP) will likely ask potential applicants to focus on groups that bear a disproportionate burden of asthma, especially African Americans. For more information, or to ensure that you receive the RFP announcement, please contact Bindi Gandhi at 510.620.3605 or bgandhi@ dhs.ca.gov. |
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Health and Well-Being of Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005 has been released and provides asthma stakeholders with an opportunity to look at asthma in the broader context of children’s lives. While many data sources exist to measure the health of children in the United States, few take into account the many contexts in which children grow and develop, including their family and community environments. The National Survey of Children’s Health, conducted for the first time in 2003, addresses multiple aspects of child health—including physical and mental health, health care, and social well-being—as well as aspects of the family and the neighborhood that can affect children’s health, on both the National and State levels. This chartbook presents National- and State-level findings from the survey on children's health and health care, their families, and their neighborhoods.
Available in hard copy from the HRSA Information Center (1-888-ASK-HRSA or ask@hrsa.gov), you can also go online at http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/thechild/index.htm to download the full report. |
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Perhaps you’ve already seen the announcements. If not, please consider whether grants from either of the following U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs might assist you in any disparities work you are doing around asthma. Note that the closing date for both opportunities is March 31, 2006.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT (EJ CPS) PROGRAM
This program seeks to provide financial assistance to eligible community-based programs working on a local environmental and/or public health issue within an affected community. Projects may have some educational or training component, but they must be secondary to the overall purpose of the project. Projects that focus solely on education and/or training will not be funded. For the complete announcement, go to http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/ej/grants/rfa-cps-grant-2006.pdf.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE SMALL GRANTS (EJSG) PROGRAM
The EJSG Program is a multimedia program designed to help community-based programs understand and address their exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks. All potential grantees must be working on or planning to work on a project that addresses a local environmental and/or public health issue within an affected community. The project's primary purpose must be: (1) to build a collaborative partnership; (2) to identify the local environmental and/or public health issues to be addressed; and (3) to envision solutions and empower the community through education, training, and outreach. For the complete announcement, go to: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/publications/ej/grants/rfa-small-grant-2006.pdf. |
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The California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section (TCS) invites you to attend a 2-day conference to hear and participate in discussions on the latest research, policy, advocacy, media and other activities surrounding the issue of secondhand smoke (SHS), which is a critical issue for people with asthma. This conference is designed to provide TCS grantees with the tools necessary for implementing current work plans and to assist in future planning around secondhand smoke issues.
While this conference is geared primarily towards TCS funded agencies, there will be plenty of great information and helpful strategy sessions for all who are interested attending. There will be 3 tracks-live, work, and play, and plenary sessions will include SHS research in these areas. Also, speakers from the Air Resources Board will be on hand to discuss the recommendation that Environmental Tobacco Smoke be considered a Toxic Air Contaminant. For more information, go to http://www.cce.csus.edu/cts06/smokefreeca/ and watch for registration materials in March. |
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In response to increasing rates of asthma prevalence, there has been a proliferation of programs and services aimed at improving the health and well-being of people with asthma, many of which include an environmental intervention component. While evaluation data from individual programs show promising results, the University of Michigan School of Public Health began the Asthma Health Outcomes Project (AHOP) to identify and classify all the factors associated with successful community-based environmental asthma programs. AHOP is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Indoor Environments Division of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On January 5, 2006, the EPA hosted a web conference to highlight findings from the AHOP study and announce the publication of the report entitled, “Successful Models of Comprehensive Asthma Management.” While AHOP continues through September 2006, and the research team plans to continue interpreting their findings, some preliminary findings include:
* Programs with a strong clinical component are more likely to report positive health outcomes
* Community based programs are more likely to report positive health outcomes
* Resource-intensive environmental strategies may not necessarily improve chances for success
* Programs that collaborate with other institutions are more likely to report positive health outcomes
In addition to the themes listed above, the web cast presentation highlighted additional factors that are linked to successful program outcomes. If you were unable to attend the web cast, you can download a pdf copy of the presentation by clicking on the following link: http://www.asthmapartners.org/uploads/other/ahop_slides.pdf. You can also review a transcript of questions and answers during the web cast as well as those emailed following the web cast by clicking here: http://www.asthmapartners.org/uploads/other/ahop_q&a.pdf. For more information about AHOP, or to view detailed report, please visit their website at http://www.asthma.umich.edu/ahop.html. |
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| The first Tuesday in May (the 2nd) is fast approaching, and many of you have already begun planning your World Asthma Day (WAD) events. So CAP wants to know – What are you doing for WAD? Are there opportunities for collaborating with partners in your area? If so, please let us know. We would love to help you broadcast your event to people in your region and across the state. Please email Jen Bolcoa at jbolcoa@ dhs.ca.gov with your event title, a short description, and any logistical information by April 7th so we can include it in our special World Asthma Day focused May newsletter. |
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| Are you taking full advantage of what the CAP website has to offer? As many of our partners know, we sponsor a statewide asthma calendar of events with key CAP partners including CAFA (Community Action to Fight Asthma). Aside from using the calendar to find out what asthma events are happening in your area, you can email us an event you would like to publicize! All you need to do is click on the link below the calendar, submit the location, time, a brief description, and contact information for your event and we’ll post it for you. To view the calendar, go to www.asthmapartners.org and click on the calendar link at the top of the page. If you have any questions, email jbolcoa@dhs.ca.us. |
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As rates of asthma prevalence in children continue to rise, there is a growing need to go beyond clinical care when thinking about asthma management. Unfortunately, recommendations that focus on reducing environmental triggers that set off asthma symptoms are rarely written into pediatric asthma treatment plans. There is evidence to suggest that this is because clinicians lack training in taking environmental histories and that, in general, their opportunities for environmental education is limited.
To address this need, The National Environmental Education & Training Foundation (NEETF) launched the Pediatric Asthma Initiative in partnership with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, focused on integrating environmental management of asthma into pediatric medical and nursing education and practice. Under the leadership of the Initiative's steering committee, NEETF developed the report entitled Environmental Management of Asthma: Guidelines for Health Care Providers.
It is important to note that, although environmental factors may play a role in the prevalence of asthma in the population, these guidelines are not directed at the primary prevention of pediatric asthma. Rather, they are designed to educate health care professionals on how to advise families about environmental interventions that can reduce or eliminate triggers for children who are already diagnosed with asthma.
Developed for a range of clinical practitioners, the guidelines contain three components:
* Competencies: An outline of the knowledge and skills that should be mastered in order to adequately incorporate management of environmental asthma triggers into pediatric practice.
* Environmental History Form: A quick, easy, user-friendly document to be used as an intake tool to help determine pediatric patients’ environmental asthma triggers.
* Environmental Intervention Guidelines: Follow-up questions and intervention solutions to environmental asthma triggers.
To view the complete report, go to: http://www.neetf.org/Health/asthma.htm. |
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| In early January, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) issued a rule to require labels to include a special “Patient Counseling Information Section” for patients and a “Highlights of Prescribing Information” for health care professionals. These sections will give patients clear, understandable information and help them become more literate about their own health and the medicine they are taking. It will also assist physicians and reduce the number of medication errors. Also in January, the FDA Pulmonary and Allergy Drugs and Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committees met to discuss whether Wyeth's Primatene Mist (over-the-counter epinephrine) should remain available or be phased out because it is Chlorofluorocarbon-propelled. The advisory panel voted 11-7 to recommend that the FDA remove the “essential use” status that Primatene Mist and other similar non-prescription inhalers require to be sold. This is good news because the FDA usually follows the advice of its outside panels of experts, though a decision can take months. |
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