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Health department offers free in-home asthma assessments for Pavia residents
Summary
Karen Schmidt, who oversees the Healthy Neighborhoods program at the health department, described free in-home asthma assessments for city and town of Pavia residents, explained asthma action-plan zones (green/yellow/red), common triggers, and gave contact details for the program.
Karen Schmidt, who oversees the Healthy Neighborhoods program at the health department, said the program offers free in-home health and safety assessments to city and town of Pavia residents. "This program is available to the city and town of Pavia residents at no cost," Schmidt said.
The visits address a range of household health and safety issues and include help with asthma. Schmidt said the program helps residents "try to determine what may be triggering your asthma symptoms" and encourages people to develop an asthma action plan with their doctor so caregivers and school nurses can respond appropriately.
Schmidt summarized how an asthma action plan is structured. She said the "green zone is when you're not experiencing any symptoms," and that a doctor can note whether a patient should take a daily controller medicine or use medication around exercise and should "mark down the medicine and how much to" take. For the "yellow" zone, Schmidt said patients may have "a cough or mild wheeze, some tightness in your chest or shortness of breath," and should continue daily medications and "add a quick relief medicine"; she advised calling a health-care provider if yellow-zone symptoms last more than 24 hours. On the red zone, Schmidt said, "red is an emergency: you are very short of breath, cannot talk well and your nostrils may be flared because you're trying very hard to breathe," and she urged taking quick-relief medicine and contacting a provider or going to the emergency department if a provider cannot be reached.
Schmidt listed common triggers the program looks for during assessments: "dust, mold and pet dander." She said trigger trackers can be used throughout the day "to try to pinpoint times, areas or things around you that may be influencing your asthma," which can help people avoid triggers or be prepared with medication.
For more information, Schmidt invited residents to contact the Healthy Neighborhoods program at (585) 344-2580, extension 5555, visit gohealthn.org, or follow the program on Facebook and Instagram. The program is offered at no cost to qualifying Pavia residents and can share asthma action plans with school nurses to improve response in case of an attack.
