The Asthma Program

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a lung disease where the lung airway becomes inflamed, begins to swell, and causes difficulty breathing. Individuals with asthma experience difficulty breathing due to allergy, exercise, or other environmental factors/triggers. Asthma affects nearly 20 million Americans (American Lung Association, April 2004).

The Asthma Program consists of a trained team including:

• Pulmonologists
• Respiratory therapists
  • Stacey Clay
  • Rhonda Brossard
• Allergists
• Your primary care physician
• Clinical health educators
• Pharmacists
• Registered nurses
• Clinical support staff
• Carrie Elliott

Our Asthma Program:

Level I:

The Breathe Easier Asthma Class offers members the opportunity to:

• Learn how other people with asthma cope with their condition
• Learn how to improve self-management skills for prevention, trigger identification, environmental control measures, and recognize acute asthma episodes
• Discuss medications and how to use inhalers, AeroChambers ® (spacers), and Peak Flow Meters

Be sure to bring the Peak Flow Meter, metered dose inhaler, and AeroChamber ® to the class. Adult family and friends are welcome

Level II:

Requires A Physician Referral

The goal of the Asthma Care Management Program is to help patients prevent, control, and treat asthma symptoms. With effective self-management skills, patients are able to return for routine care in primary care.

To enter this program, patients must be non-smokers, be 18-65 years of age, and have one of the following requirements:

• Uncontrolled asthma
• Recent asthma-related ER visit/hospital admission

What You Can Do?

Follow Asthma "Best Practices" (high-quality treatment recommendations) to help manage asthma symptoms:

• Use your long-acting inhaler (i.e., QVAR ® , Flovent ® ) even if you are feeling fine
• Use your short-acting inhaler (albuterol) only as needed for asthma symptoms
• Let your physician know if you are using your albuterol more than twice a week for asthma symptoms not related to exercise.

As a Kaiser Permanente member, you may:

• Members may enroll in our no co-pay Breathe Easier Asthma Class.
• Learn how to manage asthma with a care manager to improve your quality of life (Level II - Asthma Care Management Program). Learn more about the program and the Pulmonary Medicine Department.
• Members may enroll in our Smoking Cessation Class
• Contact your primary care physician to discuss if the Level II, Asthma Care Management Program is right for you

Asthma Information:

• Guide For Asthma Management
• More About Asthma
• Pediatric Asthma
• Quit Smoking

Resources

• American Academy of Allergy, Asthma
• American Lung Association (Asthma Management)
• My Asthma
• National Jewish Medical and Research Center