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Stacy Kika

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 17, 2010

EPA Recognizes Five Organizations for Outstanding Leadership in Asthma Care

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is honoring five organizations with the agency’s 2010 National Environmental Leadership Award in Asthma Management. The recipients have demonstrated outstanding leadership in improving the health of people living with asthma. Twenty-three million people in the United States, including 7 million children, suffer from asthma, which is one of the leading causes of emergency room visits, hospitalizations, and school absenteeism for children. One of EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s priorities is improving air quality, which has a substantial impact on people who suffer from asthma.

"Millions of Americans, many of them children, face the enormous challenges and costs of asthma every day," Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said. "The organizations we're honoring today are using innovative programs to make life easier for those suffering from asthma. With their efforts and EPA's continued work to clean the air we breathe, we're on the right path to reduce the impact asthma has on our families, our communities and our economy."

The awardees, Children’s Hospital Boston (Boston, Mass.), Neighborhood Health Plan (Boston, Mass.), Sinai Urban Asthma Institute (Chicago), Washington Heights Inwood Network for Asthma (New York, N.Y.), and Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center (Brooklyn, N.Y.) have developed innovative strategies to deliver positive respiratory health results. The strategies include forming strong collaborations and community ties with local health providers, providing integrated health care services that facilitate communication between all points of care for the individual with asthma and conducting effective environmental interventions that are tailored to the individual to reduce the environmental exposures that would increase their asthma symptoms. Each of these organizations has achieved breakthrough results and provided a model for others to follow.

The award winners will be recognized at the National Asthma Forum in Washington, D.C., on June 17 where hundreds of health-related organizations, researchers, and policy makers will gather to discuss effective community-based strategies to improve asthma programs and provide high-quality care.

More information on EPA’s Asthma Program, the 2010 National Asthma Forum, and award winners: http://www.epa.gov/asthma

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