News and Progress
Education in, asthma symptoms out
New home for Children's Hospital enhances communication and care
Aug. 24, 2009
Joelle Junio, 9, of Columbia sees Ben Francisco, a nurse practitioner at MU's Children's Hospital, for her asthma. Francisco leads Asthma Ready® Communities, a project to improve asthma care across Missouri.
Maybe it's your child or grandchild, maybe it's your child's friend, or maybe it's you. You probably know someone who suffers from asthma. The chronic lung condition affects more than 20 million people in the United States - many of them children. MU is improving asthma care in Missouri and ultimately the nation through Asthma ReadyR Communities, a new project at Children's Hospital led by nurse practitioner Ben Francisco.
"Our hope is that this program will serve as a model for other states," Francisco says. "When you look around the country, there are some small projects going on that focus on helping health care facilities implement expert guidelines for the management of asthma. But they're relatively small projects involving a handful of clinics. There's probably not another statewide program operating at the level of Asthma Ready Communities."
Francisco and his team visit schools, hospitals and clinics all over Missouri to equip and educate health care workers. To date, the program has delivered more than 4,000 hours of education to emergency room and other frontline workers; hospital, clinic, school and public health nurses; respiratory therapists; nurse practitioners; physician assistants; and physicians.
"It's about making sure that, as health care workers, we are up to speed and delivering good care, not just in the hospital but in the school and clinic settings as well," Francisco says. "It's very much a team effort, and the school nurse, doctor, hospital and parent all need to be communicating. We can't manage asthma in isolation."
To encourage communication and improve patient service, the University of Missouri Children's Hospital is consolidating all its services at Columbia Regional Hospital at 404 Keene St. The consolidation will allow MU health care providers to provide all of the services children need in one place, with a substantial improvement in facilities. "Our new home will offer patients and their families high-quality care in a kid-friendly, convenient location," says Timothy Fete, director of Children's Hospital.
After the first phase - scheduled for completion in spring 2010 - Children's Hospital will open new pediatric and adolescent units at Columbia Regional with 100 percent private patient rooms. The second phase will move the pediatric specialty outpatient clinics to their new locations in Columbia Regional.
If you're interested in supporting Asthma Ready Communities or one of the many other life-saving programs at Children's Hospital, naming opportunities are available.