Fulton County Asthma Awareness: Putting the Pieces Together Post Event ReCap

Thank you for participating in the “Fulton County Asthma Awareness: Putting the Pieces Together” session on May 1, 2012 at the Fulton County Aldredge Health Center. We thank our chief guests, Commissioner Vice Chair Emma I. Darnell , Laura Turner Seydel and our county manager, Zachary Williams for their participation that greatly enhanced the significance of this session. We thank Tim, Sarah and Dalton Passons and Rhonda Mitchell and Farrah who inspired us by their presence and we believe their voice and journey would advance us in achieving an asthma free Fulton.

We also thank our expert panelists, Renee Bomar, Dr.Hogai Nassery, Richard Johnson, Dr.Ann-Marie Brooks, Raymond Boyce, Dr. Anne Fitzpatrick, Dr.Douglas Masini, Rebecca Watts Hull , Dr.Gregory Crawford & Dr.Rebecca Reamy for their time, energy, and most importantly, their willingness to share, teach, and inspire. We thank our pitch in participants from various sectors sharing information to build on the many assets and talents that each of you brought into the room. We thank Babette Vlahous, Lynne Meadows & Gwendolyn Thomas from Fulton Public Schools and Atlanta Public Schools respectively who discussed the asthma challenges faced in the school systems. Additionally, we learned from the session that asthma in Fulton County is a huge problem surrounded by huge challenges. But we also have a huge opportunity and by working together we will be able to connect the dots and move away from the ‘silos’ environment that has been in existence in various sectors in Fulton County.

Together we have laid the foundation for a dialogue and defined opportunities and roles to address the current asthma status by building the Asthma Improvement and Reduction (AIR) Coalition of Fulton County. We agreed on mounting a focused and forceful policy response to asthma control in Fulton County. The diverse and high-level expertise represented in the session itself was a statement about how deeply we need to be concerned and how broadly we need to engage. Fulton County Department of Health Services is committed to carrying this effort forward. That said we want to hear from you further on some of your efforts underway to build the momentum generated in this session. As we move forward with AIR coalition, we will do so with commitment to working in partnership with you.

Feedback from you:

Total number of participants: 120

Evaluation Survey response: 50%

- 100% of you felt that the speakers’ presentation was enlightening and of value

- Almost 90 % of you are willing to join AIR Fulton coalition

- ‘Very well done and networked with many people and I believe it was very eye opening for Laura from Social Work to see all that was offered.’ Robert Harwood, GSU Respiratory Therapy Division Chair

- ‘ I was very moved by the parents of the children who passed away due to asthma. If they are willing, they should be involved in the asthma awareness/education campaign.’

- ‘ I hope the Georgia Asthma Coalition can network and further assist you in program development, and please call us if we can be of service. I look forward to hearing about and sharing your success in the near future....Jon and I work in the asthma community at many levels, and I don't think I have seen so many willing workers show up in one place at one time to do this amazing work...again, thanks to all for what you do and continued success, these are exciting times!’ Douglas E. Masini, Armstrong Atlantic State University

- ‘A large group discussion and/or brainstorming session would be helpful to move forward with the collaboration.’

Attachments:

Dr. Matthew McKenna Presentation slides
b. A link to the pictures. Photo credit to Carla Hill Photography

(If the link does not work, please copy and paste this address in your web browser: http://smu.gs/K6MuBL )

Link to more pictures https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=91d219796684ee0c&resid=91D21979... (Thanks to April Majors from Communication Team)

d. Our campaign poster – Faces of Fulton in Asthma: Our Story. Our sincere gratitude to Brennan Nicole Passons & Kellen Edwin Bolden for helping us walk the talk.

Panelists and Pitch in participants (Janice Haker, Heidi LeSane, Dr. Joyce Essien, Jodie Rodriguez, Clay Burton, Francesca Lopez, Vincent Vandiegriff, Jovonne H. Givens, Kate Hodgins)
f. Asthma pitch in session forms

Next Steps:

In the near future, we will coordinate the efforts to the coalition members who are interested to be a part of the asthma free movement. We are in the process of planning a date, time and location for our first coalition meeting to decide on the infrastructure and workgroups. In the meantime, we would encourage you to forward us any information about the action steps that you suggest should be taken together. To do this effectively, we have to continue our dialogue on bringing the asthma issue on the forefront. We hope you will take time to share the information with your colleagues, families and friends who were not able to join us at this session.

We would like to thank Dr. Patrice A. Harris and Dr. Matthew McKenna for providing us great leadership. Last but not the least; I thank my Health Promotion team (Carolyn Atwater Wooten, Patricia J. Jackson, Deborah Cherry, Felix Lawson, Lynnette Allen, Brandon Rose, Cheryl Graham, Carla Williams, Robert Wright, Jemilat Azeez, Matt Jackson and interns, Sarah Tintle and Alex Pishal) for their team work. Finally thanks to our volunteers, William Knight for Deejaying, Mr. Boyce for playing the saxophone, Carolyn McKenzie for helping with evaluation efforts, CDC for providing us the bags and Asthma lapel pins and behind the scene employees who helped us get this event through successfully.

PS:

http://fultoncountyga.gov/dhw-home
http://health.state.ga.us/epi/cdiee/asthma.asp
www.atlanta-mold-testing.com
http://www.sph.emory.edu/zapasthma/Default.htm
http://www.choa.org/childrens-hospital-services/pulmonology/asthma-program
http://www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org/
http://www.epa.gov/asthma/
http://www.learntogrow.org/
http://www.georgiaheadstart.org/
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