The Rush-Henrietta Central School District is one of only two school districts in the nation recognized by the American Lung Association for efforts to create a friendly and healthy school environment for students who have asthma. School nurse teachers, Jeanne Schwasman and Lea Theuer, also were honored.

Rush-Henrietta received the American Lung Association’s Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative Excellence Award, which recognizes school districts that develop and support comprehensive asthma management plans. Schwasman and Theuer received the association’s Champion Award, which recognizes individuals who make a difference. Schwasman, a former labor and delivery nurse who has worked at Rush-Henrietta’s Winslow Elementary School for 11 years, has a personal interest in helping youngsters who have asthma; all three of her children have the disease. “Asthma can be controlled with proper management and education,” she says. “I like to send the message to students that they should never let asthma define, control or limit them.

In 2006, thanks to a grant from the American Lung Association, Rush-Henrietta joined the Asthma-Friendly Schools Initiative, created by the National American Lung Association and the Centers for Disease Control. It consists of comprehensive strategies for creating an asthma-friendly school, including the Asthma-Friendly Schools Toolkit, a planning tool based on real-life activities that have been used in schools throughout the United States to create comprehensive asthma management systems.

As part of Rush-Henrietta’s effort to create asthma-friendly schools, the district created the Asthma Parent Advisory Council, giving Schwasman and Theuer the opportunity to work with parents and students to educate the community about asthma. The group also hosted a successful asthma fair, created a parent education video about student asthma that is on the district Web site, and began an “Asthma Buddies” program in which students from the Senior High School visit Winslow Elementary School to teach students about asthma and share their experiences. All bus drivers and teachers were taught about asthma through the Asthma 101 program, giving them a better understanding of how to help a child who has asthma.

The awards were announced during a Board of Education meeting. “We are delighted with the efforts that our staff members have made to help raise awareness about the challenges faced by students who have asthma, and their willingness to create more supportive learning environments for these students,” says J. Kenneth Graham Jr., Ph.D., superintendent of the Rush-Henrietta Central School District. “This national recognition serves to acknowledge and reinforce the good work being done here.”

Theuer, who has been a nurse for 37 years and works at the Senior High School, enjoyed attending national conferences sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and the National American Lung Association as part of the grant. She and Schwasman traveled to Atlanta to present about their work during these conferences, all the while learning by listening to colleagues from throughout the country. Their local success will be included in a brochure created for national distribution by the Centers for Disease Control. Although the brochure is still being printed, they can’t wait to share it with the people who have been so supportive of their efforts. “We are very thankful for the support we received from district administrators, our fellow school nurse teachers, and the American Lung Association in New York through the local state coalition, the Regional Community Asthma Network, for helping to make our schools asthma friendly,” Theuer says.