Hi. Welcome to The Blue Door neighborhood Center. My name is Paige Hampton I serve as Health educator at our former location. Today's topic is Health Matters Asthma. This presentation will be provided in English and Spanish. Let's get into the presentation. So let's start with the definition. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asthma pronounced asthma is a disease that affects your lungs.
What happens with individuals with asthma? Their airways begin to swell and narrow, producing mucus causing difficulty breathing. So you may be wondering what is some research as it relates to asthma. Well, asthma is a major noncommunicable disease that affects both children and adults. In 2019, 262 million people were affected by asthma; causing 461,000 deaths. Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children, and black Americans are three times more likely to die from asthma than white Americans.
So we defined asthma. We provided research. You may be wondering now what puts the individual at risk for asthma? So let's get into it. Family history. If you have a parent or sibling with asthma, you are three times as likely to develop asthma as well. Viral respiratory infections if you suffer from reoccurring viral respiratory infections? This also puts at risk. Allergies.
If you have allergic conditions like atopic dermatitis and hay fever. This is another risk factor. Occupational exposures here. I want you to think about your workplace, where do you work? If you are inhaling things like chemical fumes on a daily basis, industrial dust, mold or chemical fumes. You may suffer from asthma like symptoms and go on to actually develop asthma. Smoking, cigarette smoke is another risk factor, it actually irritates the lung way.
So those who smoke are at higher risk of developing asthma versus those who do not smoke. Air pollution is another risk factor. If you grew up in or live in an urban area, the air quality there is not so great and this puts you at risk of asthma. And then lastly, obesity, the extra weight around the body and pressure on the lungs cause difficulty breathing.
So we define asthma. We talk about the research we provide at risk factors. Let's get into some of the symptoms. According to the American Lung Association, individuals may experience these symptoms on a daily basis. Indulging in daily activities like going to school or work. I want to take a pause break here and I want you to keep in mind that these symptoms may appear when those individuals are exposed their triggers. Asthma, very similar to diabetes.
And high blood pressure is a chronic medical condition. It must be managed by your primary care physician or your asthma specialist along with medication. So individuals with asthma may experience shortness of breath chest tiredness or pain, wheezing when excelling, which is one of the most common signs in children, trouble sleeping caused by the wheezing, coughing, or shortness of breath, and coughing or wheezing attacks that worsened by illness.
When you think of illness, you can think of things like a common cold or the flu. So what causes an asthma attack being exposed to things which are considered your triggers. So dirty air outside, dust in your home, tobacco smoke, mold, pets, cockroach droppings, food allergies and exercise. So how can we take charge of our asthma?
You want to follow your doctor's orders and attend your regular appointments. and take your medications as prescribed? One of the most common medications for managing asthma? Is albuterol inhaler. You also want to utilize an asthma action plan and share this with your family and your friends. In case of a medical emergency, they will know how to intervene.
You want to know your triggers. So some of those things that we just discussed and what can cause an asthma attack, you want to be mindful of being around things like pets, areas where there is a lot of dust and mold or dirty air outside. So you may be wondering how is Blue Door Neighborhood Center addressing asthma?
Well, we often have education classes on asthma, physical activity and nutrition. We offer a Breathe Well, Live Well program for asthma management. We also offer a Courage to Quit program that provides tools on how to quit smoking.. If you are interested in quitting smoking right now, as you're watching this video, you can dial 1- 800-QUITNOW for free.
And lastly, we collaborate with community partners who focus on asthma management. We want to stay connected with you. So visit our website at www.BlueDoorCenterIL.com and follow us on Facebook @BlueDoorCenterIL. Thanks for watching. Bye
