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Contacts: Cindy Parmenter
Director of Communications
(303) 692-2013 - Office
(303) 891-8382 - Pager
Lori Maldonado
Public Information Specialist
(303) 692-2028 - Office
(303) 921-8598 – Cell
For Immediate Release Friday, October 17, 2003
PLAN TO BE WRITTEN TO BETTER COMBAT ASTHMA IN
COLORADO
DENVER – Any Coloradan whose life has been
affected by asthma or who is involved in the treatment or
prevention of asthma is being invited to participate in the
writing of Colorado’s state plan to provide better treatment,
prevention and control the disease.
The initial stage of writing the plan will take place at a
day-long meeting on Friday, October 24, in Denver. The meeting
is scheduled from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Four Points Sheraton
Hotel, 600 S. Colorado Blvd., and is free and open to all
interested persons. Participants may register online at
www.asthmacolorado.org or by calling the Colorado Asthma
Coalition at
(303) 388-4327. The registration form, which can be obtained on
the Web site, also can be faxed to Amy Dillon, the coalition
coordinator, at (303) 377-1102.
The theme of the meeting is “Colorado Asthma Plan – Putting the
Pieces Together.”
The coalition is the outgrowth of a collaboration involving the
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; the
American Lung Association of Colorado; and the Denver regional
office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). With its
works financed by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
grant, the Colorado Asthma Program at the Department of Public
Health and Environment has been working with the coalition and
other involved groups over the past four years to lay the
groundwork for developing the plan.
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Colorado Asthma Planning Grant – Page 2
According to Arthur McFarlane II, the coordinator of the
Department of Public Health and Environment’s Asthma Program,
meeting participants will be divided into four working groups
that will address asthma as it relates to the environment;
provider education; public education and outreach; and school
health and child care.
McFarlane said that the products of the working groups then will
be combined to form the groundwork for Colorado’s State Asthma
Plan. When the five-year plan is completed, it will be submitted
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention where it will
compete with other state plans for funding.
If Colorado is successful in obtaining a CDC asthma program
implementation grant, the money will be used to fund the
activities outlined in the state plan; to develop better
surveillance data on the number of asthma cases in Colorado; to
reach underserved populations; and to meet the national Healthy
People 2010 guidelines for better treatment of asthma and for
reductions in the number of cases.
McFarlane said, “We are hopeful that anyone, who is interested
in asthma, its treatment, its control or its prevention, will
participate in this planning meeting. This includes adults with
asthma; parents of children with asthma; school administrators;
school nurses; doctors; health care professionals; environment
professionals; community health activists; and other persons
working in the area of asthma. All of their ideas and
suggestions are needed to help develop a plan that will result
in an outstanding Colorado state plan for the treatment, control
and prevention of asthma.”
It is estimated that 67,000 Colorado children and 140,000
Colorado adults suffer from asthma.
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