State-sponsored asthma awareness initiative    

Plan makes grants to health departments to educate WIC families about asthma

[DEC. 10, 2004]  SPRINGFIELD -- On Wednesday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced the WIC and Asthma Education Initiative, a partnership between the Illinois Department of Public Health's Asthma Program and the Illinois Department of Human Services' Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, also known as WIC. The initiative will provide asthma education to WIC clients.

"It's important that everyone, especially parents, understand asthma, what causes it and how to control it," Gov. Blagojevich said. "Education and proper medical help can greatly reduce the health effects of asthma and save millions of dollars in medical costs."

Twenty-eight local WIC agencies will receive mini grants of $3,000 or $4,000 each. This initiative will provide resources and education on asthma, to be given to WIC clients. In addition, WIC staff will receive training on asthma and how to effectively educate WIC clients. This will help ensure that WIC clients with asthma have an action plan, by working with the clients directly or facilitating linkage of resources. The grants will also allow agencies to educate WIC clients on other risk factors that affect asthma, including smoking, second-hand smoke, obesity and physical inactivity.

Teaching parents of children with asthma to avoid environmental triggers, recognize early warning signs of worsening asthma and the severity of an asthma episode, use medications appropriately, and seek medical help promptly can dramatically affect the economic and health consequences of asthma.

For example, the evaluation of a pilot program at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago found that this approach reduced hospitalizations by 81 percent, emergency room visits by 64 percent and clinic visits by 58 percent, leading to a reduction in annual medical costs of treating these patients by more than $4,000 each.

"Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting more than one child in 20, and it's a leading cause of school absence," said Department of Human Services Secretary Carol L. Adams, Ph.D. "Since WIC reaches so many families with young children, and especially children who may have a greater chance of developing asthma, it was an obvious choice for this collaboration."

The prevalence of asthma is rising more rapidly in preschool-aged children than in any other group. In 1998, the rate of self-reported asthma among children and adolescents under age 18 years old was 7.4 percent, compared with 4.8 percent among people over 17 years of age, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. This agency also estimates that the annual direct medical costs of asthma in children were $88.9 million in 1998 and that the indirect costs, due to lost wages and other factors, were $55.2 million.

"This is a wonderful collaboration, which will ensure that WIC clients with asthma receive educational informational that is vital to their needs," said Dr. Eric Whitaker, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The WIC program in Illinois currently provides services to more than 280,000 women and young children each month. Approximately 40 percent of the children born in Illinois receive WIC services, which are provided through 100 local health departments and community-based agencies statewide.

Agencies to receive grants:

• Bethel New Life Inc., $4,000
• Bond County Health Department, $4,000
• Chicago Department of Public Health, $4,000
• Coordinated Youth and Human Services, $4,000
• Crawford County Health Department, $4,000
• East Side Health District, $4,000
• Egyptian Health Department, $4,000
• Fulton County Health Department, $4,000
• Ford County Health Department, $4,000
• Greene County Health Department, $4,000
• Jefferson County Health Department, $4,000
• Lake County Health Department, $4,000
• Lawrence County Health Department, $4,000
• Knox County Health Department, $4,000
• Macon County Health Department, $4,000
• Marion County Health Department, $4,000
• Mason County Health Department, $4,000
• McDonough County Health Department, $4,000
• Mercer County Health Department, $3,000
• Montgomery County Health Department, $4,000
• Pike County Health Department, $4,000
• Scott County Health Department, $3,000
• Springfield Department of Public Health, $4,000
• Tazewell County Health Department, $4,000
• Wabash County Health Department, $4,000
• Washington County Health Department, $3,000
• Winnebago County Health Department, $4,000
• Woodford County Health Department, $3,000

[News release from the governor's office]