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EPA Co-Sponsors Fresno Indoor Air Quality, Asthma Workshop

Release Date: 06/06/2012
Contact Information: Michael Ardito;[email protected] 415-972-3081

06/06/2012 Collaboration Follows National Asthma Awareness Month

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Pacific Southwest regional indoor air program and the University of Tulsa, in collaboration with Central Valley Children’s Services Network and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, co-sponsored three consecutive asthma training workshops in Fresno today for school district and Head Start administrators, school nurses, child care and health care providers.

The workshops, held at the Central Valley Children’s Services Network, further amplified National Asthma Awareness Month, which takes place in May. Asthma affects nearly 26 million Americans, including 7 million children, especially minority children and children with family incomes below the poverty level. The workshop covered the “Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools” program, the impact of outdoor air pollution on indoor air exposures and asthma triggers for child care providers and Head Start.

Instructors included Barbara Spark from the U.S. EPA regional office, Dr. Richard Shaughnessy of the University of Tulsa and Deanna Rossi, the Associate Director of the California Breathing Asthma Program with the California Department of Public Health.

U.S. federal agencies last week unveiled the Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities. The action plan will coordinate efforts to improve asthma management and prevention. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan discussed the new plan during an event May 31 in Washington, DC.

More on the Federal Partnership to Address Asthma Disparities: https://www.epa.gov/childrenstaskforce/index.html

More information about the EPA Indoor Air Quality program: www.epa.gov/iaq

More information about the Asthma Community Network: www.asthmacommunitynetwork.org