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2003 Grant for Innovation in Asthma Care - Grant Winner
Health Alliance Plan - Detroit, Michigan: Airwaves
Health Alliance Plan (HAP) of Michigan developed Airwaves in 2003 in partnership with targeted Detroit public schools to improve asthma awareness and mitigation of environmental triggers. The goal was to engage children, parents and school officials in asthma management and reduction of exposure to environmental risk factors to help reduce asthma-related pediatric emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and school absenteeism. The Airwaves program was implemented in six schools with a combined enrollment of 3,413 children.
Following identification of the target population, HAP contracted with a pediatric care management firm to support the educational sessions and interventions in the targeted schools. The Airwaves program included the following components:
- Introductory meetings with school principals to educate them about asthma and introduce the EPA's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools materials;
- Meetings with teachers and staff to increase awareness of asthma and environmental triggers, including distribution of Indoor Air Quality Teacher Checklists to evaluate classrooms for environmental risk factors;
- Presentations to children about asthma and environmental triggers, including distribution of Home Environment Questionnaires for completion by parents. Parents who identified themselves as having a smoker in the household were provided the EPA Smoke-free Home Pledge brochure and HAP members were also referred to the plan's smoking cessation program if they were not already enrolled;
- Presentations to parents about the keys to effective asthma management and identifying environmental triggers in the home, including distribution of handouts on mold and moisture control and secondhand smoke; and
- Incentives for teachers, students, and parents to encourage program participation.
To determine the effectiveness of the Airwaves program, HAP is collecting clinical, utilization, functional and process indicators for the enrolled population. Pre-intervention scores will be compared to post-intervention scores to determine improvement in clinical (appropriate medication management) and utilization (ER visits) indicators from HAP's claims database.
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