Asthma Waikato saves lives

 

The work of Asthma Waikato literally saves lives.

Trustees of the King Country Electric Power Trust who sponsored and donated the funds for this new van

According to the Asthma & Respiratory Foundation of NZ, 1 in 7 children take medication for asthma in NZ; 586,000 school days are lost each year due to asthma; on average 77 kiwis die from asthma each year; and the cost of asthma to the nation is over $1 billion per year.

There have been significant changes in both global and national asthma guidelines recently regarding asthma management. Some of these changes are incredibly important. All asthmatics should be reviewed regularly to ensure they are on the best regime and being managed in the best way, but due to these new guidelines, it is now more important than ever before, particularly for those aged 12 years and over.

Sheryl Long, General Manager says that Asthma Waikato allows kids to get their lives back.

“Our work allows kids to run, breathe and play without asthma stomping on their day. Because breathing is a big deal and pretty important!” says Sheryl.

Asthma Waikato is a charity that was established in 1973. They have a vision of ‘Transforming lives of people with breathing conditions’ and they achieve this by educating the community and empowering families with breathing conditions to live full lives.

Asthma Waikato services include;

  • providing consults for children aged 0-15 years with asthma, and their families, living in the Waikato. This service is free. These can be done at clinic ; by virtual video consult; phone consult; or at hospital

  • Asthma education sessions for community groups – e.g. schools, early learning centres, kaumatua groups, health professionals

  • Spirometry training course for health professionals

  • Weekly COPD exercise and support group in Hamilton

During these consults people will find out:

  • What asthma actually is

  • What medicines there are and what they do

  • What a spacer is

  • What different devices there are

  • What triggers are

  • What other things might be impacting asthma

  • And more

With the right education, advice and management, asthma is a very treatable, reversible and manageable condition. Yet so many are struggling along with something that they think they ‘just have to put up with’. They put up with things like an ongoing cough, or their child coughing at night and think ‘that’s just them.’ But an ongoing cough is not normal and needs to be investigated. And it is also not normal to keep on suffering from other asthma symptoms either. When asthma is well managed, the child is well, happy, and symptom free.

“I would say that more than 90% of the time it comes down to simple things like not taking the preventer every day twice a day, over-use of the blue inhaler, poor technique with the inhaler and/or spacer. Our work corrects all these things,” says Sheryl.

“We also follow the ARFNZ guidelines very closely and ensure that the clients we see are on regimes that are in line with these recommendations. The world of asthma changes regularly and we often find people are on outdated regimes, following ‘old school’ advice and therefore experiencing suboptimal asthma control,” says Sheryl.

One very happy whanau wrote about their experience with Asthma Waikato.

"We have been working closely with Asthma Waikato for the better part of a year to manage and control our 12-year-old daughter’s asthma. When we first touched base with the Asthma Waikato team our daughter who is otherwise healthy, was on many different asthma medications and still suffering from constant bouts of respiratory sickness, frequent asthma attacks and many trips to the hospital for steroids and nebuliser doses. Her quality of life was severely hindered due to what I deem to have been, “severe” asthma.

We worked closely with the Asthma Waikato team and a paediatrician to carefully review her medication as well as her method and consistency of administrating the medicine. The team was thorough and careful, making sure to eliminate any other precursor issues before changing medication. Once medication was recommended and changed, detailed follow up and informative care was provided to ensure best use practice ensued.

Miss 12 has been using the new medication for 2 months and is a new girl. We have had no illnesses, trips to the hospital or bouts of shortness of breath. Our daughter is enjoying participating in 3 sports and regularly runs around the block for fun, something we would’ve all been worried about six months back. We cannot thank the Asthma Waikato team enough for their help in getting our daughter back to her fighting fit state.”

Parents can take this quick test to see if their child’s asthma is well controlled:

  • Does your child have daytime asthma symptoms more than twice a week?

  • Do they wake at night due to asthma?

  • Do they need the reliever (usually blue or grey) more than twice a week?

  • Is their activity limited because of asthma?

If you answered yes to any of these, your child’s asthma may not be well controlled, and he/she needs a review. Asthma Waikato can help.

Referrals for asthma education are made through the Asthma Waikato website www.asthmawaikato.org.nz. They accept self-referrals.

 
 
Kim Cable