Mobile Asthma Center Expands Services in East Bay

The “Breathmobile” will now be bringing its mobile asthma services into three new locations whose populations suffer heavily from asthma. The $100,000 grant was approved by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Sept. 2 during the district’s board meeting.

As a result of the grant, the Prescott-Joseph Center’s Breathmobile will now serve San Pablo, Hayward, and Oakland’s Chinatown area, in addition to the 17 Bay Area locations the Breathmobile currently visits in Contra Costa and Alameda counties. The Breathmobile also serves other areas in Oakland and San Francisco.

“We believe that the work they’re doing is critical to the regions they serve,” air district spokeswoman Lisa Fasano said. According to the air district, the Breathmobile is a mobile asthma clinic that visits schools and other sites to offer free preventive asthma services, full service evaluation, treatment, and education.

“Asthma is one of the main causes of emergency hospitalization among children each year,” executive officer Jack Broadbent said in a statement. “Many factors contribute to asthma triggers, so it’s important to reach children in impacted communities and provide medical help and education where they live.”

According to the air district, children are more strongly affected by air pollution because their lungs are still developing, and also because they are more exposed to air pollution due to actively spending time outdoors and generally breathing more rapidly than adults. In addition, high concentrations of ozone and small particle pollution is linked to asthma, which now affects one out of every six children.

“This grant is a wonderful boost to help us reduce asthma disparities in the Bay Area at a time when asthma management programs are so badly needed,” executive director of Prescott-Joseph Center Washington Burn said in a statement.

By Bay City News

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