My Thoughts About Asthma and the National Asthma Forum

I think we take breathing for granted. Nobody sees breathing as something you have to work for unless you’re an asthmatic and you know what that means. I’m the mother of a child with asthma and I’m an Asthma Healthcare Navigator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Actually, I first became involved with asthma initiatives because I wanted to learn more about my child’s asthma and how to manage it as a mom. So, I attended workshops and classes offered through the Community Asthma Prevention Program (CAPP) , and shortly afterwards I became a parent facilitator for CAPP. As a parent facilitator I educated caregivers about asthma. Once I became a home visitor I was able to individually educate caregivers and children and assist them in removing asthma triggers from the home. Now, I’m an asthma navigator, which means I help people manage their asthma or a loved one’s asthma by identifying barriers to good asthma management and connecting them to healthcare services. My passion is to keep kids healthy.

This is what led me to the National Asthma Forum. The first couple of years I went to the Forum to find out what other people were doing in their programs and to talk about being the mom of a kid with asthma. It was fascinating to hear about what other people were doing and validating to learn that they thought our program at Children’s Hospital was successful! Each year I learned about something that someone else was doing that I thought could help our program. This year was another great experience.  I learned that other programs are targeting specific non-English speaking or ethnic groups, like Native Americans. It made me think about how Children’s Hospital can add more staff so that we can ensure we are taking care of as many people as we can. 

But what the Forum really does for me each year is remind me that asthma is not something that we should give up on. We still have to find ways to get more funding and keep doing what we’re doing.

I am interested in knowing what others thought of this year’s Forum and if there is any way I can assist you in your program initiatives. 

Thanks, 

Charmane Braxton