New Law Set To Help Students With Asthma
Asthma Is Leading Chronic Illness For Children, Adolescents
NBC4.tv
January 3, 2005
LOS ANGELES — When classes resume Monday, California schools will be
required by law to allow students — with written permission from their
doctors and parents or guardians — to carry and use asthma inhalers.
The law, which went into effect Saturday, is designed to help reduce the
impact of asthma, an inflammatory lung disease characterized by
recurrent breathing problems, in children.
“This can be a life or death issue for the estimated 1 million children
in California with asthma,” said Dr. Timothy A. Morris, president of the
American Lung Association of California’s medical section, the
California Thoracic Society. “Asthma symptoms can come on quickly and
instant access to prescribed medications can literally save lives.”
Before the law’s passage, school districts were not required to permit
students with asthma to carry and self-administer their medications.
Some students had to leave classrooms or playgrounds to seek the help of
the school nurse or other designated school personnel.
The state Department of Health Services recently approved an asthma
action plan for schools and families including the consent and
authorization language required by the law.
The department’s Asthma Action Plan can be downloaded for free at:
In partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the plan
has been translated Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Armenian.
These versions will soon be available at
About one in seven California children between the ages of 6 and 17 has
been diagnosed with asthma, according to the Lung Association.
Asthma is the leading chronic illness for children and adolescents,
according to the Lung Association.
The Department of Health Services has also released a set of guidelines
to assist school personnel in dealing with students with asthma. It is
available online on the Web sites of the California School Nurses
Organization, , and the California Asthma Public Health
Initiative, and the Department’s Health Public
Information Finder,