The Douglas County Health Department is participating in a program called the Early Childhood Asthma Initiative which provides asthma education services and materials for parents and caregivers of children up to 5 years of age, as well as environment assessments for child care centers.
Under this program the Health Department is able to provide one-on-one and group education consults to parents, family members, and caregivers at the Health Department or in the comfort of your own home.
Caregivers will receive a guidebook which describes ways to create a healthy environment for children with asthma.
The book defines asthma, lists ways to keep asthma under control, describes signs and symptoms, and what your doctor will want to know; and explains environmental conditions that may trigger asthma symptoms.
Douglas County Health Department has also been approved to offer continuing education “clock hours” to child care providers who are participating in one or two of the Early Childhood Asthma Initiative services: environment assessment and education consults.
The DCHD staff will conduct the environment assessment with air monitoring equipment, and then can review assessment results and present educational materials developed by Dr. John Kraemer and others at Southeast Missouri State University Center for Environmental Analysis.
Child care facility staff can attend group education consults in conjunction with caregiver consults, receive handbook material and participate in discussion. Facility staff members will receive a certificate on completion of the session.
For information, please call the Health Department at 683-4174.
The Early Childhood Asthma Initiative is managed by the Missouri Asthma Prevention and Control Program under a cooperative agreement with the Missouri Department of Social Services with federal funding under the American Recovery of Reinvestment Act of 2009.
