I recently read about an innovative program in Utah called The Utah Open Airways for Schools, or OAS for short. The program funded in part by an entrepreneurial company called StoresOnline, and run by the American Lung Association of Utah, is designed to help school-aged kids with asthma learn the “necessary techniques and strategies to help them manage their asthma so they can do all the things their peers can do, without feeling embarrassed or afraid.” They aim to make hundreds of kids each year “Asthma Experts.”

The OAS program doesn’t just want kids to survive asthma; they want them to thrive in spite of asthma. This is a great goal, because kids often fail to take needed asthma medication that makes them look — and feel — different from their peers. After their child went through the OAS program, some parents reported better compliance with medicines, while others found learning more about asthma helped their children accept this chronic illness better.

One story reminded me of something that happened when my girls were young and in elementary school. A classmate died one day on the playground — from asthma. At the time, I found that to be horrendous, not to mention frightening, eve though neither of my kids had asthma, thank goodness. Still, it was unfathomable that asthma could move so far and so fast. I’ve since read similar accounts, though, so I know it’s not all that unusual.

But, getting back to the OAS program, one story was recounted that classmates of a child with asthma were able to help prevent an asthma attack by informing the gym teacher that the child had asthma and needed to rest earlier than scheduled. Disaster averted — how empowering for the kids! And how different things may have turned out at my daughters’ school if more kids (not to mention teachers) had been educated about asthma.

If you live anywhere but Utah, but would like to see a program like that implemented in your school system, become a change agent and advocate for asthma. Join your school parent-teacher organization and get this issue on a meeting agenda. Contact your local Lung Association office to see what might already be available.

Wouldn’t it be great to see programs like this in every one of the 50 United States?

Learn More:

• Is Your Child’s School “Asthma-Friendly?”
• Your Child’s Right to Carry Needed Asthma Meds at School
• How to Talk to Your Kid About Asthma