Parents | Teachers | Health Professionals | Media
With the arrival of fall and back-to-school season, three million Canadians are faced with a bigger challenge: good asthma control. The cold temperatures of the season and added stress of a new school year, act as triggers for severe asthma attacks. Currently, asthma affects seven to 10 per cent of Canadians and causes up to 500 deaths per year. It is the number one cause of emergency rooms visits for children, and accounts for 25 per cent of absences from school.
Education is the key to decreasing the burden of asthma. With proper control, 80 per cent of deaths due to asthma can be prevented. It’s estimated that six out of 10 Canadians have poor control of their disease. The Asthma Society hopes to reach out to those Canadians and help them learn that their symptoms can be managed and they can regain their lives.
Therefore, the Asthma Society of Canada has developed a campaign of public service announcements for television, radio and newspapers. The goal of this drive is to heighten awareness of asthma as a chronic disease and to educate the public about how attacks are triggered and how to prevent them. It is our hope that these announcements will underscore the importance for those who live with asthma to gain control of their symptoms.
Newspaper Editors and Radio Public Affairs Directors:
Use these PSAs to raise awareness and promote asthma awareness in your community. The radio and TV PSA ads (to be posted soon) are ready to use as they appear but you can also adapt them to reflect local resources or meet your station's guidelines.
Healthcare Professionals and Community-Based Organizations:
Use these PSAs "as is," or tailor them to fit the needs of your local community. Send the camera-ready print PSAs to local newspapers or use them in your organization's newsletter to promote asthma awareness in your community.
Contact the Asthma Society at 1-866-787-4050 x108 for the camera-ready versions of the print PSAs or VHS versions of the TV PSAs.
The Asthma Society of Canada has been dedicated to educating Canadians about asthma for over 30 years. It is Canada’s only national civil society firm with charitable status devoted to optimizing the health of people living with asthma. More information about the Asthma Society of Canada is available under our
Profile section.
Resources
Media Contact Information
The Asthma Society of Canada has two official spokespeople.
Oxana Latycheva is the Director of Programs for the Asthma Society and can speak to the Asthma Basics 123 program as well as issues related to the incidence of asthma in Canada. She is an expert on the Asthma Society of Canada and its approaches to asthma education.
Dr. Mark Greenwald has been the Vice-President of the Board of Directors for the Asthma Society of Canada for the past 10 years. He speaks to issues related specifically to asthma, asthma management and asthma research.
To speak with either of these individuals, please contact the Asthma Society of Canada at 416-787-4050 x108 or 1-866-787-4050 x108, email us at info@asthma.ca.
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