State Health Department Proposal

¶ … Health Department Proposal

The scope of the project would be that of reducing the numbers of parents who smoke in the presence of their asthmatic children. This problem is increasing in the context in which more children are diagnosed with this condition and as it increases in severity when they are exposed to second hand smoking.

The project addresses the parents of children with asthma who smoke and it would be completed through educational efforts and by presenting these parents with the information necessary to raising awareness of the severity of the condition and the dangers of smoking for their children.

The risks of asthma and smoking

Asthma is often neglected as a severe illness and this is due to the fact that less people come to suffer severe problems pegged to asthma, and the incidence of deaths caused by asthma has dramatically reduced throughout the recent years. This is generally due to the advancement of medicine, which allows a better control of the disease.

It must nevertheless not be forgotten that asthma is a severe condition which is never cured, only managed. But while the management of asthma has evolved to a point at which patients can live a normal life under treatment, it is noted that more and more people are diagnosed with the respiratory condition. And the majority of these people are diagnosed with asthma in childhood. In the United States for instance, 22 million people have been diagnosed with asthma and 6 million of them are children (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 2011).

The increasing number of asthma diagnoses within the contemporaneous society is pegged to the evolution of the society and the increasing incidence of elements which are inhaled by the people and which trigger asthma attacks. These are vast and vary from one patient to the other, but generically include preservatives and flavor enhancers in the food industry, fumes in the cosmetics and cleaning industries, dust and so on.

Smoke is one of the most important triggers of asthma attacks. Children living in homes in which they are exposed to second hand smoking will experience a worsening of their breathing problems and will develop additional long-term breathing problems. In a more concise manner, asthmatic children exposed to second hand smoking face the following risks:

More severe and more frequent asthma flare-ups

The more pressing need to go to the emergency room with severe flare-ups

The need to go to the emergency room more frequently than asthmatic children living in non-smoking homes

The increased situations in which children miss school due to asthma related episodes

The need to take more asthma medicine than other asthma patients, and finally

The risk of developing asthma conditions which are more difficult to control, even with medicine (Kids Health, 2011).

3. Importance of the educational project

The outcomes of smoking for children with asthma trigger a series of chain reactions, such as a lower educational level due to absenteeism, a generally weaker health state, a significantly decreased quality of life, as well as increased spending at a federal and health department level. These in turn mean that it is essential for the Heath Department to invest in the education of parents with asthmatic children to stop exposing them to smoke as this is more damaging than they realize.

4. Proposed recommendations

As it has been mentioned in the previous sections, the scope of the project would be that of convincing parents to quit smoking altogether. In the cases when this is not possible, the aim is that of raising awareness and informing the parents, in order for them to stop exposing their children to second hand smoking. In order to attain this objective, emphasis would be placed on the education of the adult population, parents of asthmatic children of ages between 0 and 15 years. The specific recommendations in this sense include:

The organization of meetings which gather and present information on the risks of first and second hand smoking for asthmatic children and adolescents

The creation of these meetings so that the information is well understood by the participants, rather than highly medical and difficult to be understood by the participants

The motivation of the population to join these meetings, such as the offering of a free medical check-up

The use of marketing tools to attract the population, such as the advertising of the meetings in the local media using pull strategies, namely strategies which attract the individuals towards the meetings, rather than push the meetings onto the population (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010)

The creation of an approach through which smoking parents of asthmatic children are not criticized and condemned, but informed and motivated to quit

The offering of realistic information on the risks of smoking for asthmatic children, as well as the presentation of the benefits of quitting smoking for the parents, such as improved health, better living conditions, money savings and so on.

The offering of real support to parents trying to quit smoking. Such an endeavor is often difficult and failure is a constant for these people. They as such need help in quitting.

5. Measurements

The success of the endeavor would be assessed through sustained measurements of variables before the commencement of the project and one year after its competition. The variables which would be assessed in the measurements include the following:

The absenteeism of asthmatic children from school, due to asthma related problems

The hours spent in hospitals by these children due to asthma related problems

The incidence of the visits to the hospital, including the emergency room, of the children with asthma, due to asthma related problems

The financial resources involved in the treatment of the asthmatic children