Asthma Management Program

Each year, thousands of people with asthma visit the Advocate Health Centers. As a result of this, an asthma initiative was created, giving doctors and patients the most up-to-date information on asthma, its treatment and environmental triggers.

Managing asthma symptoms is key to living with the disease. Asthma patients learn these skills with the help of the Asthma Management Program, which provides:

• Asthma Therapy Assessment questionnaire: The questionnaire allows people to self-report on how asthma affects their lives. Physicians use this information to provide enhanced treatment options or one-on-one patient education.
• Asthma nurses: Each Advocate Health Center staffs a nurse trained according to the American Red Cross asthma program. They teach patients as well as staff members how to best handle asthma cases.
• Asthma specialist: The Asthma specialist of Advocate Health Centers educates patients on how to control their symptoms and when necessary makes in-home visits.
• Equipment support: Asthma patients often use peak flow meters to confirm the stability of asthma and determine the severity of an asthma attack. Some also use a spacer, which is a simple device that is attached to an inhaler to improve medication delivery into the lungs. Both of these are offered at the Advocate Health Centers.
• Group classes: Patients are given the education they need to properly manage the disease and improve their quality of life.

The program also works with each patient to create an Asthma Action and Treatment Plan. This plan explains to patients what they need to do if they experience an increase in symptoms. It lists all medications and is very visual with green, yellow and red zones that show a patient when he is she is in danger.

The Advocate Health Center Asthma Management program benefits over 5,000 of our patients and is aimed at improving their quality of life.

For more information on our Asthma program or for a referral to a physician specializing in asthma, call 1-800-3-ADVOCATE.

Access our Asthma Information web site