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Roughly one out of every seven Californians has been diagnosed with asthma. With such high rates, this chronic condition impacts all communities across the state. Luckily, there are a bunch of great organizations working in California to raise asthma awareness.
Among these organizations is Breathe California, which focuses on fighting lung disease, improving air quality, and promoting public health. One of Breathe California’s initiatives is a workshop, All About Asthma, that focuses on working with parents and providers to recognize asthma symptoms and treat the condition early.
Breathe California is hosting All About Asthma workshops this week in the Bay Area, with Spanish sessions held in Daly City for health providers tomorrow (March 11th) and for parents on Thursday (March 12th). An English workshop for parents is also on Thursday (March 12th) in San Bruno. Each of these workshops is available free of charge. You can visit the Breathe California website to register. They also offer the workshops in Chinese.
These workshops are important for communities of color because some significant asthma disparities exist in the Bay Area. For example, roughly one in five Latinos and African Americans in Alameda County have been diagnosed with asthma. In addition, African Americans in the same county visit the emergency department due to asthma at a rate five times higher than that for Whites (214.5 per 10,000 versus 42.9 per 10,000).
Greater education about asthma can help reduce some of these disparities, and Breathe California’s workshops are a great way to increase awareness in the community so parents and providers can recognize the condition before the emergency room.