Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics/Family Health Partners
Kansas City Childhood Asthma Management Program (KC CAMP)

Jay Portnoy, MD, Children's Mercy Hospitals Director of Health Management, talks about improvements in asthma care in Kansas City, MO.

Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics partnered with Family Health Partners, a Missouri Medicaid HMO, to test a new model of healthcare delivery to children who have asthma. At a time when many health plans are limiting patient access to medications or specialty care in an effort to control healthcare costs, the Children's Mercy model did the opposite - and both patients and the health plan benefited. Read more.

The Pediatric/Adult Asthma Coalition of New Jersey (PACNJ)

Teresa Lampmann (left) accepts the Making a Difference Award on behalf of PAC New Jersey.

PACNJ's School Task Force developed a 3-hour asthma training for school nurses on asthma medications, asthma triggers and asthma management in the school setting. They also developed a program to help school nurses teach faculty to recognize early asthma symptoms, help children who show signs of asthma symptoms, and identify and eliminate asthma triggers in the classroom. Read more.

Elizabeth Seickel, RN, BSN, AE-C
Helping Girls Breathe Easier: The Asthma Awareness Patch Program for Girl Scouts

Nancy Sander recognizes Elizabeth Seickel for her creativity and dedication to helping children and families living with asthma.

Elizabeth Seickel had the idea for a Girl Scouts Asthma Awareness Patch Program. After developing program materials and pilot testing the program, Elizabeth is now working on a national program to be launched in July 2005. Resources include a bilingual parent handout with general information on asthma and a description of what the girls worked on for the asthma patch. The "Healthy Lungs" direction of the program also includes girls who don't have asthma. "Having healthy lungs applies to everybody," says Elizabeth. Read more.

In October 2004, the Asthmatic Schoolchildren's Treatment & Health Management Act became law. As of May 4, 2005, all but four states had laws or pending laws allowing children to carry and use prescribed asthma inhalers at school! And laws allowing children to carry and use auto-injectable epinephrine at school were catching up.

We asked kids around the country to say "thank you" to President Bush and Congress for caring about schoolchildren with asthma and anaphylaxis.

The winners of this year's art contest are

Jael Santos
Bronx, NY (Age 6)
Jael Santos knows the importance of ready access to medications. Jael was diagnosed with severe, chronic asthma at age one and a half. He also has peanut allergies. So he was very happy to hear that Congress was working to ensure he could carry his inhaler at school and an Epi-Pen® when he's old enough to use it on his own.

David Schornstaedt
(Age 11)
David Schornstaedt feels very lucky - he's not one of the 8.9 million children in this country with asthma. But several friends in his class have asthma, so when he heard about our art contest, he took the opportunity learn more about asthma and state laws protecting schoolchildren with asthma and anaphylaxis.

Stephanie Krol
Midland, TX (Age 16)
Stephanie Krol and her family are no strangers to asthma and anaphylaxis. Stephanie has tree nut allergy and both her brothers have asthma. Not only is Stephanie a talented artist, she's a budding activist. Stephanie testified in April 2005 at a Texas state hearing on legislation to allow children to carry and administer self-injectable epinephrine while at school. The bill is expected to pass unanimously.

Nancy Sander (in red) congratulates (from left to right) Jael Santos, Stephanie Krol and David Schornstaedt for their award-winning art.