NEWS RELEASE
Released for the St. Louis
Regional Asthma Consortium
E-mail version available;
call 314/569-7100
ST. LOUIS REGIONAL ASTHMA CONSORTIUM
FORMED TO ADDRESS INCREASE IN ASTHMA CASES
For more information, contact Carol Kovacik at Millennium Communications, Inc.,
314/569-7100 (office); 636/227-4193 (home); or ckovacik@millenniumcom.com.
ST. LOUIS, October 3, 2000 - The
St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium has been formed to bring together the talent
and resources in the St. Louis community to improve the health and quality of
life of people living with asthma. The Consortium, which consists of key health
care professionals and other community leaders who deal with asthma concerns,
is sponsored by the American Lung Association of Eastern Missouri.
The Consortium, in its first year planning phase, has formed five committees
that are currently obtaining information and conducting assessments to develop
action and advocacy plans. These plans, which will be implemented to assist
adults and children suffering from asthma in the St. Louis area, will be announced
next spring and implemented over a three-year period.
The number of children in the St. Louis metropolitan area with asthma is approximately
three times the national average. According to area studies, up to 15 - 20%
of children under 18 suffer from asthma in certain areas of St. Louis as compared
to the national average is 6.3%. Asthma costs in Eastern Missouri total more
than $75 million in lost school time, lost work time, and medicine and emergency
room visits.
St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium
- add one
Kristin D. Wilson, MHA, is director of the Consortium. Mario Castro, M.D., M.P.H.,
Washington University School of Medicine, serves as chair. He also is an executive
committee member of the American Lung Association of Eastern Missouri.
To date, the Consortium has received a one-year, $10,000 grant from the St.
Louis Community Foundation and three-year commitments from Coventry (owners
of GHP and Health Care USA) and Merck & Co. Inc. Other corporate sponsors
include GlaxoWellcome and AstraZeneca.
The Consortium will announce its Leadership Council at a public meeting Thursday,
October 5 from 6 - 8 p.m. at the Khorassan Room West at the Chase Park Plaza.
The meeting is open to anyone who has an interest in asthma issues. To attend
the meeting, you must register in advance by calling 314/645-5505.
More than 17 million Americans suffer from asthma, which is the seventh-ranking
chronic condition in America. Asthma can be a life-threatening disease if not
properly managed. In St. Louis, the prevalence and incidents of asthma are particularly
troubling and increasing each year, and is a community-wide health care problem
that affects low-income families in the city, as well as middle- and high-income
families in the suburbs. The increase of asthma in older adults also is a growing
area of concern.
For more information on the St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium, please contact
Kristin Wilson at 314/645-5505.
Editor's Note: The St. Louis Regional Asthma Consortium is located at 1118 Hampton Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. (63139)