LOS ANGELES: Mobile Asthma Program Reduces Hospitalizations
"Two traveling breath mobiles" that began operating in Los Angeles "are credited with a drop in emergency room visits by asthma patients and a sharp rise in students whose asthma is under control," CNN reports. The program is run by the University of Southern California and the Los Angeles School District. It features a "roving doctor's office" that provides care, medication and prevention education to the "growing number of inner city youngsters with" asthma in an effort to teach patients to manage the chronic condition. CNN reports that often "the inner city poor ... miss out on this chance for long-term management because they rely on emergency rooms for nearly all their medical needs." The program has "dramatically reduced the number of youngsters that have to be hospitalized for asthma" ("Newsnight," 5/8).
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