Happy Asthma Awareness Month! I hope you’ll scroll down to this issue’s Diving Deeper feature: Why caring about asthma in schools protects YOU. If you have problems with any links, try pasting them into your internet browser. If they still don’t work, please let me know. Thanks for your ongoing support of healthier schools!
Events, Opportunities, & Resources
Upcoming Event: May is National Asthma Awareness Month. Keep an eye out for asthma awareness activities in your community
Opportunity: Take the Healthy Child Care & Early Learning Facilities Self-Assessment to see if your child care or early learning center is a healthy place for kids, families, and staff, https://www.epa.gov/schools/healthy-child-care-early-learning-facilities-self-assessment?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
Resource: Check out the Best Practices Near Roadway web page to learn how to reduce exposure to traffic pollution at school, https://www.epa.gov/mobile-source-pollution/best-practices-near-roadway?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
Diving Deeper: Why caring about asthma in schools protects YOU
While asthma “is a chronic lung disease that makes it harder to move air in and out of your lungs” (according to the American Lung Association), it can be managed. However, many things at school can trigger flare-ups, or asthma attacks. This can make it harder to breathe, which makes it much harder to learn, teach, or even to attend school. In the U.S. about 1 in 16 kids has asthma, and students miss millions of school days each year due to the disease. Reducing asthma triggers helps keep kids (and staff) in school.
Asthma triggers can include things that cause indoor air pollution like perfume and cologne, air fresheners, disinfectants, and hazardous chemicals used in science labs and art rooms. Dust, mold, and smoke are asthma triggers, too.
Working to reduce asthma triggers at school makes the air healthier for everyone. In other words, protecting those who are most vulnerable protects us all.
To learn more, check out the Wyoming Healthy Schools website and the resources below.
American Lung Association, “What is asthma?”, https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/asthma/learn-about-asthma/what-is-asthma, page last updated 10/23/24, viewed 5/20/25
Washington State Department of Health, “Asthma,” https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/illness-and-disease-z/asthma, viewed 5/20/25
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Asthma Facts,” https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-04/documents/asthma_fact_sheet.pdf, May 2025, viewed 5/20/25
The Wyoming Healthy Schools newsletter will take a short break over the summer, but we look forward to connecting again in the fall.
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