A 4 Asthma

The A 4 Asthma program centered on Benton Harbor is an example of a community-based solutions-oriented campaign that resulted from Environmental Fridays. It started on Friday, February 11, 2022 when Princella Tobias was inspired by Dr. Susan Buchanan’s guest lecture on Air Pollution and Children’s Health. This collaboration is an example of implementing our Environmental Fridays goal transforming environmental awareness into community action. Other episodes that address asthma, asthma triggers, and or air quality and air pollution include:

 

 

A 4 Asthma brings together the following core individual partners and organizational partnerships: (i) Princella Tobias, Founding Executive Director of A 4 Asthma and Benton Harbor Team Solutions

and Publisher of the Benton Spirit Community Newspaper,

 

(ii) Dr. Susan Buchanan, clinical associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, and director of the Great Lakes Center for Reproductive and Children’s Environmental Health and Principal Investigator of the Region 5 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, and

 

(iii) Dr. Desmond Hartwell Murray, Founding Executive Director of BEST Early and Environmental Fridays.

 

Other professionals and organizations associated with Environmental Fridays and A 4 Asthma are: (a) Dr. Laurel A. Berman, an environmental health scientist, and adjunct professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, and Andrews University, 

 

(b) Dr. Motria Caudill, Environmental Health Scientist, Andrews University, and

 

(c) Dr. Yvonne Larrier, Professor of Counseling and Human Services, Indiana University South Bend and Founder and Director, The Global Center for School Counseling Outcomes Research, Evaluation and Development (GCSCORED).

 

In addition, we have proactively worked with several local community members to form a corps of Asthma Ambassadors. They include Ethel Clark-Griffin, Dr. Kelvin Butts, Kim Jordan, Johnta “JT” Ervin, Ebony Sanders, Archie Davis, Marlain West, Jasmine Lewis, Thomas Polk, Allene Smith, Darlean Hawkins, and Katrina Wright. Among other responsibilities the Asthma Ambassadors will conduct asthma outreach by tabling at events, reading the EPA asthma children’s book in the schools, visiting churches and senior citizens (many of whom care for grandchildren) to teach about asthma triggers, and they will collect personal asthma testimonies which help magnify the issue in the community. The Asthma Ambassadors will complete a certification course to assist in carrying out their roles.

 

Our A 4 Asthma campaign is committed to bringing hope, and healing to asthma sufferers and their families in Benton Harbor, and Berrien County, Michigan. This campaign brings medical and other professionals together with asthma sufferers and their families to advocate, educate, and provide solutions and resources. It proactively seeks to improve quality of life and health of asthmatics by, for example, decreasing asthma symptoms and minimizing school and work absences. While asthma cannot be cured it can be controlled and managed. For example, minimizing exposure to pollution, smoking, dust, chemical irritants, and other environmental triggers are ways to reduce or avoid the risks and symptoms of asthma.

 

Asthma is expected to affect 400 million people worldwide in 2025 with over 250,000 people dying from it each year. In the United States 28 million people have asthma with about 9 persons dying from it each day. Females, blacks, and low-income persons generally have higher rates of asthma. 25% of African Americans in Berrien County have been diagnosed with asthma. 

 

A 4 Asthma organizes community resource fairs and hosts asthma information tables at community events. A 4 Asthma provides listening and professional counseling sessions for asthmatics. We also design materials including a standing banner with a QR code to the AirNow.gov website. In addition, we design posters, T-shirts, and wrist bands that promote using the Air Quality Index for asthma symptom management.

Below are photos of A 4 Asthma posters and events published in the Benton Spirit Community Newspaper in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Selected videos of A 4 Asthma in action can be found here at a4asthma@bestearly.