Locally, Dr. Dan Dalan, who specializes in asthma and allergy care, will follow up on some of the students who attend Fargo and Moorhead Open Airways classes. Working with Dr. Dalan, some students will complete a survey and take a pulmonary function test before the classes, immediately after the classes and nine weeks later. The idea is to see if the class had the desired effect of increasing grades while decreasing sick days and emergency room visits. For children with asthma, a severe flare-up literally takes away their breath. Airways narrow and the child fights to bring oxygen into the body.
Children describe it as a frightening, chest-crushing feeling.
Sometimes the struggle turns to panic - and unfortunately, panic can worsen an asthma attack. However, in some schools children are prohibited from carrying their rescue medication. The policy in Fargo and Moorhead public schools is to keep medication, including most inhalers, under lock and key in an office. Parents can ask for an exception if they feel strongly that their child should have a rescue inhaler at arms' reach. Susan Kahler, executive director of the American Lung Association of North Dakota, says policies vary from school to school, but in general, policies should be changed to recognize that a rescue medication is only useful if a child can use it seconds into an attack.