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Asthma affecting Logan County residents
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[JAN.
28, 2004]
Mark Hilliard, administrator
of the Logan County Health Department, has announced the formation
of a county asthma partnership.
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Asthma ranks among the most common
chronic conditions in the United States. Over the past 15 years the
number of people afflicted annually with asthma has doubled, and the
prevalence of asthma continues to rise.
Asthma has become a leading health
concern. Linked to environmental and other causes, asthma poses many
harmful consequences, many requiring hospital admission and some
deadly if untreated.
In addition, asthma sufferers
experience high direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include loss
of wages due to missed work; indirect costs include poor grades for
children due to increased absenteeism.
In Logan County, more than 10 percent
of all kindergarten through 12th-graders use inhalers for asthma;
12.1 percent of adults report a diagnosis of asthma; and more than
15 percent of high school students have been diagnosed with asthma.
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this article]
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In response to these alarming rates,
the Logan County Health Department is facilitating the formation of
a partnership to address asthma in our community. Funding for this
project is made possible in part from a grant received from the
Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Health Promotion.
People wishing to actively participate
in the partnership may do so by attending a meeting on Thursday,
Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. at the health department.
For more
information contact Marcia Dowling at (217) 735-2317.
[Logan
County Health Department news
release]
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