Saturday?s story in on the dramatic fall in visits to hospital by asthma sufferers shows what a well planned preventive medicine and awareness programme can accomplish.

Government is now talking about introducing community wellness programmes and could well take up the efforts of medical professionals and the Open Airways group in combating asthma as a model.

Bermuda suffers from an unusually high incidence of asthma and there is every reason to believe that this will continue to rise.

And no one needs reminding after the death of Steven (Peppy) Dill in the Co-Ed Facility in December 2001 that asthma can be fatal if left untreated ? although if it is treated there is virtually no risk.

Where people concerned with the treatment of asthma have done a terrific job is in teaching asthma sufferers how to look after themselves, how to remove triggers for the illness from the home and the sufferer?s surroundings and how to reduce its effects.

In doing so, they have cut the number of emergency hospital visits to 75 percent, presumably cutting insurers? costs and allowing emergency staff to deal with more serious problems. A similar approach can be used for other illnesses, with diabetes being the most obvious and one where a good deal of work is already being done.

Again, many forms of diabetes are treatable, and sensible diets and other preventive measures can reduce its effects or prevent its incidence. Again, the reduction in medical costs and the gains in quality of life for diabetes sufferers are incontestable.

And the same approach can be taken to heart disease ? Bermuda?s leading killer ? and other common, chronic illnesses.

This is important on a number of levels. The cost of health care continues to rise much faster than inflation and will be a major burden on future generations if preventative steps are not taken.

As Bermuda?s population ages and the Bermudian workforce shrinks, the need for older people to continue to work will become a national imperative, but that won?t happen if the population is unhealthy.

Similarly, the economy will demand a more productive workforce, and that cannot happen if it is unhealthy. Finally, and most obviously, better health leads to a better quality of life for all, and that?s a better reason than any.

Government and the medical community should look at the achievement of asthma awareness and prevention and apply it ? through similar private-public partnerships ? to other areas where the community is chronically unhealthy.