The West Virginia Asthma Education and Prevention Program (AEPP) has a wide range of partnerships throughout the state in order to facilitate our mission and vision.  AEPP strives to provide current asthma guideline information, asthma education curriculums and resources, and to promote asthma awareness as a chronic disease to every corner of the State with the assistance of our partners. Some who share our mission and vision include: 

American Lung Association in West Virginia  

As a long standing national partner with this and other Asthma Programs, the American Lung Association is the oldest voluntary health organization in the United States, with a national office and constituent and affiliate offices around the country. Founded in 1904 to fight tuberculosis, the American Lung Association today fights lung disease in all its forms, with special emphasis on asthma, tobacco control and environmental health. The ALAWV was formed in 1954, serving all 55 counties in the state through education, community service, advocacy and research. 

 

Through a subcontract with the AEPP: ALA-WV manages the West Virginia Asthma Coalition - by organizing meetings, activities, and events in the process of implementing the goals of the Strategic Plan for Addressing Asthma in West Virginia 2010-2014; by working closely with AEPP in the development and facilitation of World Asthma Day, Asthma & COPD Awareness Day at the State Capitol, and other activities that raise awareness of the burden of asthma in West Virginia. The ALA-WV also provides training for programs such as Breathe Well Live Well - education for medical professionals to improve their asthma self-management education to their patients, Open Airways for Schools - education for anyone who wishes to teach middle school children with asthma how to understand and manage their disease better, and the Asthma 101 Program - the basic skills to understand asthma triggers, medications, and management. All of these programs are evidence-based curriculums endorsed and funding support provided by AEPP in  West Virginia. Contact the ALA in West Virginia by calling 304.342.6600 to locate a class near you.

West Virginia University School of Medicine’s Office of Health Services Research (OHSR)

Through a contract with  AEPP: OHSR conducts the Clinic-based Asthma Management Program (C-bAMP) in Community Health Centers, Free Clinics, and other rural health facilities in West Virginia. C-bAMP promotes the utilization of The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI) Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma Expert Panel Report 3 and works to empower health care practitioners to provide the highest quality of care for their patients with asthma. This is made possible through a patient disease registry system, Chronic Disease Electronic Management System (CDEMS) that OHSR facilitates, and provides technical support for. CDEMS operating costs, updates, and integration in clinics/primary care centers are paid fully through funding from WV-AEPP, the West Virginia Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, and the West Virginia Cardiovascular Health Program.

Since 2003, the OHSR has been working with the West Virginia Asthma Education and Prevention Program (AEPP) to aid in achieving the following:

• Enhanced surveillance of West Virginians with asthma, improved data on work-related asthma, and improved data on the uninsured/underinsured population with asthma;
• Previously aided in the implementation of school-based interventions for children with asthma, through the American Lung Association in West Virginia and their use of the Open Airways for Schools - to educate asthma self-management skills to middle school aged children and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools programs - improving air quality in schools in West Virginia;
• The develoment and implementation of clinic-based intervention for patients with asthma (C-bAMP) for improved patient care by enhancing provider asthma education and making available to providers an electronic chronic disease patient registry (CDEMS) enabling them to track patients on an individual and population-based level. 
• Improving quality improvement initiatives (QI) in clinics by utilizing the clinics' own registry data and electronic medical record (EMR) data to improve the quality of care of patients. This action, educational efforts, and other technical support is facilitated by the OHSR Health Improvement Coordinators (HICs) and the other specialized staff at OHSR.
• Developed an electronic Asthma Action Plan (e-AAP) jointly with AEPP and the West Virginia Department of Education. This Asthma Action Plan is built on the template provided in the takeACTION! Asthma & Diabetes Education for school personnel CD-ROM and web-based training. Click here for the takeACTION! website and receive continuing education units for completion.

If your clinic is interested in improving quality initiatives and quality assurance, improving patient data and tracking, or providing asthma education and resources to physicians, RNs, and other support staff, then contact WVU-OHSR through the information listed on their website listed below.

     Click here to view the C-bAMP Brochure  and the OHSR website for more information.

     Click here to view clinics in West Virginia who work with OHSR on asthma quality of care initiative.

     View the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma

West Virginia's Division of Tobacco Prevention

AEPP in partnership with the Division of Tobacco Prevention (DTP) created two 30-second commercials about Asthma and the effects of Second-Hand Smoke and Cigarette Smoking.  The commercials have been part of a pilot intervention that were broadcast in Wood County in 2008, reaching approximately 20% of the West Virginia population along with residents of Ohio. The commericials can be viewed on the DTP website: www.wvdtp.org. Also, the DTP in cooperation with AEPP developed an asthma section in their Smoking and Your Health brochure and the asthma specific Tobacco Use & Asthma  brochure that are currently available for clinics, health professionals, and the general public for free. These brochures were developed and made available in December 2008.

The Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) was developed by the CDC as a surveillance and evaluation tool for state tobacco prevention programs. The WVYTS is conducted by the WV-DTP and the AEPP in collaboration with the CDC. The WVYTS collects information on current and lifetime asthma, missed school days for asthma, prescription medication use for asthma, and asthma attacks among adolescents. Only public middle school and high school students (grades 6-12) are eligible to participate in the survey. YTS data must be interpreted with caution because they are self-reported.

Please view the DTP/AEPP brochures here: SMOKING AND YOUR HEALTH  and Tobacco Use & Asthma Trifold

Charleston Area Medical Center

CAMC Health Education and Research Institute, Inc. (CAMC Institute) is part of the CAMC health system, which is largest not-for-profit health system in West Virginia, and is the organization within responsible for research, continuing education, and oversight of external funding. CAMC Institute applied for funds on behalf of the CAMC Pulmonary Rehabilitation program specifically for the West Virginia Charleston Asthma Management Program for Seniors (WVChAMPS) which is an asthma self-care management program geared directly for seniors. A Pulmonary Handbook for patients has been developed and being distributed along with an asthma education curriculum, "better breathing plan", and a follow-up process to check on patients after being discharged from the hospital is currently being finalized. The WVChAMPS programs also involves an "Asthma Outreach" that provides education on the NHLBI Asthma Guidelines and spirometry education to medical staff and providers in Rural Health Care Clinics in West Virginia. So far, WVChAMPS and AEPP staff have partnered with Cabin Creek Health Systems where this multifaceted education has taken place in their 4 health center locations in Kanawha County. The goal of this program is to reduce the burden of asthma by improving asthma self-management by decreasing re-admissions and Emergency Department visits for asthma in Southern West Virginia in the senior population specifically.

 

Additionally, CAMC Institute in 2007 partnered with AEPP and the WVDHHR to update, produce, deliver archived educational modules with the online education programs titled: Asthma Education for Primary Care Providers. This web-based curriculum is accessible to the public and is provided to healthcare providers at CAMC Hospital Systems by offering  CMEs for physicians and CEUs for nurses, respiratory therapists, and other ancillary staff.

 

Click here Asthma Education for Healthcare Providers to view the CAMC educational CE tool.

 

            Asthma Education for the Primary Healthcare Provider flier 

 

West Virginia Bureau for Public Health - Division of Health Promotion & Chronic Disease

 

The WV Asthma Education and Prevention Program is part of the Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Division (www.wvhealthpromotion.org) housed in the Office of Community Health Systems & Health Promotion (WVOCHSHP.org). Other chronic disease programs housed in this division include: The Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (wvdiabetes.org); The Cardiovascular Health Program; The Comprehensive Cancer Program (wvcancer.com); The Osteoporosis/Arthritis Program (wvbonenjoint.org); and the Healthy Lifestyles Program (wvohl.org) which is also pioneering the Change the Future WV project "because making the healthy choice is an easy choice" - this project focuses on changing policies, systems, and the environment in order to make a healthier community. AEPP works in partnership with all of these programs on some level to help facilitate joint activities and goals shared by each program by utilizing resources, knowledge, and expertise.

   

The Office of Community Health Systems and Health Promotion is affecting the lives of every West Virginian by monitoring and reducing the prevalence of chronic disease and their contributing risk factors through health promotion, developing appropriate interventions and control strategies, and facilitating coordinated, comprehensive, and integrated community-based health services throughout the state.

The Office supports and encourages reducing chronic disease by developing partnerships, organizing data, developing specific strategic plans, and implementing evidence-based interventions.  Policy, environment, and systems-wide changes are a primary focus.  The Office promotes health services availability and accessibility to all West Virginians through support of community primary health care centers, local health departments, hospitals, and emergency medical systems. 

For Health Promotion and Chronic Disease's Strategic Plan, please see:

Advocating for Chronic Disease Management and Prevention 2011