Department of Pediatrics
El Nuevo San Juan Health Center 1065 Southern Boulevard Bronx, New York 10459 (718) 589-2440 x4156
Asthma is a common, costly, chronic illness that has a significant impact on children, their families, and the health care system
Urban Health Plan manages 14,000 patients with asthma. An Asthma Action Plan (AAP) is recommended to guide patients on managing the illness and how to use their controller medicines every day. Ninety percent of Urban Health Plan patients with persistent asthma use controller medication.
Asthma is managed at Urban Health Plan through a patient-centered approach that involves working with the patient, their families, clinicians, health educators, community health workers and community agencies. The program focuses on an evidence-based, asthma health education or asthma self-management education curriculum, following the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP)) guidelines.
The program’s goals are to:
- Improve the quality of life of asthma patients and families by raising awareness that asthma is a chronic illness
- Teach patients to follow the Asthma Action Plan and manage their signs and symptoms
- Encourage patients to take their controller medications every day
- Decrease hospitalization and ER visits
- Highlights of the program include:
- Clinicians following evidence-based clinical guidelines
- Asthma health education curriculum
- Individual asthma educational sessions
- Home Visiting Program: Asthma self-management education that reduces exposure to asthma triggers, such as cockroaches, mold, and tobacco smoke, by increasing awareness of the link between environmental triggers and asthma. UHP collaborates on this program with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) through DOH Healthy Homes Program.
- Strategic community partnerships
- Develops, manages, tracks, and analyzes asthma health status indicators.
In 2016, UHP was awarded with the National Leadership Award from the Environmental Protection Agency for providing effective asthma management to patients.
Asthma cannot be cured but can be controlled. The asthma program has successfully improved patients’ lives and achieved the following:
- Decreased hospitalizations and ER visits
- Improved asthma control status
- Increased symptom-free days
- Improved housing repairs
- Improved quality of life
- Improved the patient’s environment to support asthma control.