CDC Grant to Help Students at Two Oakland Schools Manage Their Asthma
To help students manage their asthma, the CDC has awarded a $500,000 grant to two schools in Oakland, which has one of the highest hospitalization rates for the chronic disease in state, the Oakland Tribune reports. Rep. Barbara Lee (D) and Oakland schools Superintendent Dennis Chaconas announced the grant Monday at Oakland Technical High School, which will share the funding with Montera Middle School. The grant will be used to fund "Oakland Kicks Asthma," a program that will provide medical assessments, case management and an education campaign for students with asthma. The program, created by a coalition of health care agencies led by the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, will also provide students with referrals to doctors and insurers "along with information on how to treat" the condition, which Chaconas said is responsible for many student absences. Data from the Department of Health Services shows that Alameda County had the second-highest rate of hospitalization for asthma in the state from 1995 to 1997, and Oakland had the highest rate within the county. "Urban and minority communities have been neglected for years. The high percentage of African-American and Latino students (with asthma) warrants this attention," Lee said (Katz, Oakland Tribune, 12/18). Oakland is one of seven cities to receive the CDC asthma grant (AP/Fresno Bee, 12/18).
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