November, 27th, 2008
Dr. Evelyn Montalvo Stanton
New Jersey Medical School
Pediatric Department – F540
185 South Orange Avenue
Newark, New Jersey 07101
Dear Sr/ Madam,
I am writing to tell you about The Children’s RESPIRA Education Program, an exciting new program designed to provide bilingual medical and educational services to Latino families in Essex, Union, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, and Middlesex Counties who have asthmatic children. The program educates both parents and children about the development, triggers, and treatment of asthma. In addition, we will provide each participating child with an individualized Asthma Action Plan, which is currently a state mandate. Families without medical insurance may qualify for medication vouchers and will be followed by the UMDNJ- sanofi-aventis Pediatric Asthma Center.
The UMDNJ-sanofi-aventis Pediatric Asthma Center has found a great need to work with Latino families who may face limitations such as language barriers and difficult socioeconomic conditions. Some families may use the emergency room as the primary way for treating their child’s asthma, and therefore have inconsistent health care providers. We have found that many families lack the knowledge necessary to manage their children’s asthma conditions and some are using ineffective folk remedies to treat symptoms and/or are incorrectly using prescribed asthma medications. As a result, we have designed The Children’s RESPIRA Education Program.
The program consists of one two-hour education session, subdivided into sessions for parents and children. This program is given at several sites in each county including the schools. After the initial education session, there will be two home visits, conducted by a bilingual Health Educator and Public Health Representative. Three weeks after the education session, the Health Educator will visit the family at their home to assess how the child is doing, obtain information about any hospitalizations or emergency room visits, assess asthma triggers in the home setting and provide supplemental asthma education about avoiding allergens. Families who need social service assistance will be referred for help.
We anticipate that this program will increase compliance with therapy, decrease emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and school absences, and improve quality of life. We also hope this program will help strengthen the Latino community and enable us to gain a better appreciation of the social and cultural diversities that exist within it.
I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to partner with you to provide this service to the community. You can contact me at (973) 972-8801 or montalev@umdnj.edu. I look forward to our being in touch to work together.
Sincerely,
Evelyn Montalvo Stanton, M.D.
Principal Investigator-Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatric Pulmonologist