The Asthma Center of Excellence at New Jersey Medical School
Breathing Better with Innovative Asthma Care
According to the Centers for Disease Control, asthma accounts for 14 million lost days of school missed annually and is the third-ranking cause of hospitalization among those younger than 15. The estimated cost of treating asthma in those younger than 18 is $3.2 billion per year. Among urban dwelling children, the incidence of asthma is higher than their suburban counterparts due to increased exposure to indoor allergens including second-hand smoke, cockroach and dust-mite allergens, mold, pets and nitrogen dioxide, a by-product of gas stoves and space heaters.
To help children - and their families - breathe more easily, New Jersey Medical School established The Asthma Center in 2004. Using a multidisciplinary approach to care, the center employs nurse case managers to coordinate the many aspects of asthma control and prevention. In addition to the doctor and patient, family members, school nurses, pharmacists and insurance companies play a critical role in proactively managing the disease. This approach can also reduce exacerbations of the condition leading to emergency room visits.
In addition to providing an innovative approach to asthma care, NJMS is the only institution in New Jersey with a state-of-the art diagnostic tool, the NIOX, which measures a patient’s exhaled nitric oxide to determine the effectiveness of prescribed drugs.
In September 2005 the Newark Department of Health and Human Services and New Jersey Medical School partnered to provide specialty care for uninsured children affected by asthma at the Health Department’s William Street office. The arrangement established a satellite location of the Pediatric Asthma Program, providing area residents with another practice location.
According to Deborah Johnson-Rothe, MD, FAAP, associate dean for the Office of the Clinical Enterprise, “The traditional primary care physician model does not work in this patient population. People get lost in the system when you send them somewhere unfamiliar for specialty care. We have to establish relationships that we can build upon to improve the health of the community.”
Catherine Cuomo-Cecere, Newark’s director of health, agrees. “The health disparities in the city of Newark, and in any major city, make it incumbent upon the providers of care to find ways to attract people to service delivery sites.”
Ms. Cecere and Dr. Johnson, the architects of this innovative partnership, share a common goal: to improve and maintain the health of the community’s children. “They are, quite simply, our future,” says Dr. Johnson.
Expanding the Community Relationship
A recent addition to the Asthma Center is a fully complemented Latino asthma education program, titled The Children's RESPIRA Education Program. The program will provide medical treatments and education, as well as a specific asthma plan of action in Spanish to all our patients and their families.
Evelyn Montalvo, M.D., FAAP, Pediatric Pulmonologist, believes that this program will increase patients’ compliance with therapy and decrease emergency room visits as well as hospitalizations. This program will also provide an awareness of healthcare disparities facing our community’s diverse cultural population.
