Open Airways continued its push to share asthma awareness with the Island's school students last week when nurses Debbie Barboza and Liz Boden held a lively interactive assembly at St. David's primary school.

There, the students who have asthma were presented with items and information to aid their asthma treatment. Each child was presented with a new pillow, a dust mite pillow cover and also a spacer device donated by the Junior Service League.

“We've been doing something called “Pillows for Prevention” which we've been doing for three or four years, going around to each primary school,” explained Mrs Boden.

“We've only just started giving the spacer devices as well.”

In the last few years Open Airways have visited 25 schools and have given out in excess of 1,000 pillows.

“Some ask us back every year, like Devonshire pre-school where we go every year,” she stated.

“The whole idea is to reach out to children and teach them about asthma and how to prevent it. We talk a bit about the medicines and then the asthmatic children stay behind to learn how to use their spacers.”

Mrs. Boden also had praise for the way the schools have co-operated.

“They have been really, really good, doing things like making sure they get the pets out of the classroom,” she explained.

“When we go and do the education, then sometimes the schools make the changes and Devonshire pre-school have made huge changes. They got rid of their carpet, the bird in the cage and they have certainly made big changes.

“They like us to visit every year and invite their (students') parents as well. We're trying to gather statistics on how many asthmatics are in different schools and Devonshire pre-school always had a huge number. Last year when we went there there were 19 asthmatics out of 60 children...that's one in three, basically.”

That compares to 16 students at St. David's primary.

“They were such lovely children,” said Mrs. Boden.

“I have a programme that comes from New Zealand called “Ben has Asthma” and there is a book for them to sing along. The chorus is “...and the wheeze will go away”.

“It's all about them making decisions, that they must not have a cat in the bedroom or don't let anybody smoke in their home and don't use aerosol sprays and don't bring flowers like Easter lilies into the house. It's just a way of telling them about the main asthma triggers and the children learning to make decisions.”

The two nurses have shared with students that approximately one in 10 adults and one in four children suffer from asthma in Bermuda.

“Did you know that you can help prevent your asthma symptoms or those of someone you know?” the students of Clearwater Middle School were asked during a visit there by the nurses in May.

Some of the interesting information and tips they learned included:

It is important to know what the triggers of asthma attacks are so that they can be avoided. For many they include perfume, car and bus exhaust, household cleaning sprays, pets and flowers.

Dust mites are also a trigger. Dust mites accumulate in pillows, stuffed animals and mattresses. It is important to change your pillow frequently (every one to two years) and to use pillow and mattress covers.

Put your favourite stuffed animal in the freezer for a few hours every week to kill the dust mites that have accumulated in it.

Asthma can be controlled with medication but it is important to take the medication correctly. Most asthma sufferers should be taking preventative medication, not just the inhalers that help relieve attacks. Asthma sufferers should discuss medication with their doctors.

At Clearwater Middle School some 67 spacers were donated by the Continental Society of Bermuda. The spacer is a device that helps users to take the asthma medication more effectively.

The Continental Society is a registered charity whose mandate is to promote the welfare of children in Bermuda. They were represented at the assembly by member Tracy Packwood.

Discussions have already begun within Bermuda's schools to introduce a national school asthma policy, something which should be in place by the start of the next school year in 2004.

School nurses, in partnership with Mrs. Boden, met on August 27 to discuss the asthma policy and to share ideas and suggestions. The aim of a national school asthma policy would be to deliver high quality, co-ordinated asthma care for children of all ages who suffer from asthma.

“We're still working on that, but the hurricane put us behind, so we're meeting again in the new year,” revealed Mrs. Boden.