Neighborhood Organization for Pediatric Asthma Management in the Neighborhood Asthma Coalition: Neighborhood Activities

In addition to curriculum, an important part of the program is neighborhood promotion, oriented largely around the three emphases noted above: take asthma seriously; take asthma medication for asthma symptoms; and, when symptoms do not respond to treatment, get help. Table 2 provides samples of the promotional activities carried on through the four neighborhoods through August 1993. As illustrated in Table 2, promotional activities have taken many forms, consistent with community organization’s emphasis on integrating program messages into the everyday circumstances of the intended audience. Some activities have been established explicitly to address asthma and have been identified as activities of the Neighborhood Asthma Coalition. Other activities related to asthma have been included in neighborhood programs addressing broader health and social themes. The rationale for inclusion of asthma activities in programs not exclusively identified as part of the Neighborhood Asthma Coalition is to encourage adoption of the asthma message by channels already in operation and credible to intended audiences rather than to try to win attention and trust for new channels.

In addition to curriculum, an important part of the program is neighborhood promotion, oriented largely around the three emphases noted above: take asthma seriously; take asthma medication for asthma symptoms; and, when symptoms do not respond to treatment, get help. Allergy medications itat on Table 2 provides samples of the promotional activities carried on through the four neighborhoods through August 1993. As illustrated in Table 2, promotional activities have taken many forms, consistent with community organization’s emphasis on integrating program messages into the everyday circumstances of the intended audience. Some activities have been established explicitly to address asthma and have been identified as activities of the Neighborhood Asthma Coalition. Other activities related to asthma have been included in neighborhood programs addressing broader health and social themes. The rationale for inclusion of asthma activities in programs not exclusively identified as part of the Neighborhood Asthma Coalition is to encourage adoption of the asthma message by channels already in operation and credible to intended audiences rather than to try to win attention and trust for new channels.

Table 2—Examples of Neighborhood Asthma Coalition Activities

Date No. People Contacted
Individual neighborhood activities
Asthma skate-out 3/92 20
Walk-a-thon 4/92 15
Neighborhood health fairs Summer ’93 442
All-site activities
Bubble gum beeper protest 7/92 15
Jackie Joyner Kersee luncheon 11/92 20
Leadership training program 2/93 17
Asthma awareness prayer 3/93 86 Churches
Woman-to-woman presentation 5/93 60
Asthma summer camp 7-8/93 Children w/asthma:191
Promotional materials (Total No. types of materials=18) 13,694
Media campaign
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Parents for drug-free community 10/92
interview with neighborhood staff member
St. Louis American: Protest of candy beepers, cigarettes 7/92
St. Louis North Star: Smoking as asthma trigger 7/92
St. Louis North Star: Asthma summer camp 9/93
KSDK (NBC Affiliate): Neighborhood Asthma Coalition asthma 7/93
summer camp
KMOV (CBS Affiliate): Asthma coverage 3/93
KATZ-AM: Phone-in discussion of Neighborhood Asthma 9/92
Coalition issues

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