Scope of Service:
Informational, educational, referral and supportive services provided for asthmatic individuals at health fairs, health screenings and health related events.
Educational and referral services provided for community based organizations, schools, faith based organizations, neighborhood groups and city based agencies.
Involvement with professional organizations dedicated to community outreach, asthma education and asthma screening projects.
The mission, vision have essentially remained the same with several different and ever-changing ways to meet goals and objectives.
The Asthma Center has sought out partnerships, supported faith-based endeavors, community organizations, neighborhood groups, city-based agencies, attended and conducted health fairs and asthma screenings and sought to be a source for physician and other asthma educators in the city of New York. The Asthma Center also participates in a privately funded project in public housing in Brooklyn, called “Healthy Families”. This project functions with a ‘train the trainer’ model to help alleviate health disparities in public housing communities.
The Asthma Center has been an involved an active partner in the New York City asthma community with continued involvement at many levels in NYCAP including the Steering Committee.
Childhood asthma rates in Central Brooklyn and Bushwick are as high as 20% and are estimated to be significantly higher than the 9.7% rate of the borough of Brooklyn. Early intervention is the key for young parents and children. Addressing lack of knowledge, lack of diagnosis, lack of a medical home, and lack of information on the appropriate use of control medication is of paramount importance. The involvement with DOHMH, Bureau of Chronic Disease is the largest of the Asthma Center’s outreach and the one of which we are the proudest. We believe we are continuing to work along the lines of our mission and grow to meet the needs of the communities we serve.
How is the program evaluated? What are the results of the most recent evaluation?
The programs at the Asthma Center are evaluated in many ways – depending on the program or endeavor. For example:
- Physician education events are evaluated by participants after the event.
- Parent and staff education events are randomly evaluated post-session.
- New York City, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).
- Managing Asthma in Daycares is evaluated monthly in form of reports and comparatively to those same daycare projects in other neighborhoods of the city. The yearly application process is also another form of evaluation – without ineffective and/or lack of progress our application would not be renewed.
- Hospital administration reviews our yearly activities and compares the Asthma Center to other projects and areas. Reports are also submitted to the Director of Business and Community Affairs.
- Grants applications are another form of evaluation – lack of funding and having input from various sources allows for evaluation and feedback.
- Professional publication allows for a wider area of scrutiny and feedback from a larger professional community.
- The most substantial project under with an evaluation component is the daycare outreach project in coordination with Affinity Health Plan. Brooklyn Asthma Project/Brownsville East New York will attempt to answer the following research question: Can a software tracking tool and/or an intensive educational intervention improve asthma outcomes in pre-school children in East New York and Brownsville daycare centers? The basic design of this project will be a single-blind randomized trial in which day care centers who agree to participate will be randomized into one of 4 groups. This project was implemented after 9 months of collaboration with Affinity health plan, their project manager and a senior research assistant. The outcomes will be shared with DOHMH, NYCAP and the Early Childhood Committee of NYCAP.