(AMBULANCE SIREN)
(BABY COUGHING)
(BABY CRYING)
WOMAN #1: She woke up with major differences.
So I went and I got cough medicine, and I thought,
"Hmm, you know, it's a common cold."
But by noon, we were on, you know,
on our way to a friend's house but by noon,
she was just laboring to breathe and
that's when we came to the hospital.
DR. PHILIP LANDRIGAN: The major problem
in children's environmental health today is asthma.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that
15 million children are predisposed to asthma.
Rates of acute asthmatic attacks among American
children have doubled in the past decade.
The group within the American population
who are at highest risk are children,
and within the broad population of
children, it is poor children of color
living in inner cities who are
clearly at the very highest risk.
CHILDREN: Good morning, Ms.
Lightfoot. I'm here and ready to learn.
VERONICA LIGHTFOOT: You look like you're
ready to learn today. Today, I came to your class
because I want to share some information with
you about asthma. Can anyone spell that word?
CHILDREN: A-S-T-H-M-A.
LIGHTFOOT: Raise your hand if you have asthma.
OK, raise your hand if somebody who lives in your
house has asthma.
CHILD #1: My auntie has asthma.
CHILD #2: My mommy has asthma.
LIGHTFOOT: Yes.
CHILD #3: My brother has asthma.
LIGHTFOOT: Your brother has asthma. Yes.
CHILD #4: My sister has asthma.
LIGHTFOOT: Your sister has asthma. Yes.
CHILD #5: My cousin has asthma.
LIGHTFOOT: We are concerned here in Bayview-Hunter's
Point because we are a very toxic area.
We have a very high percentage of children with asthma.
And we formed what is called the Asthma Task Force.
The Asthma Task Force started here at Carver, and
our primary purpose was to educate our children.
LIGHTFOOT: Can you show me where your lungs are?
Right here. Are your lungs here?
CHILDREN: No.
LIGHTFOOT: Are you sure? Are your lungs here?
CHILDREN: No.
LIGHTFOOT: Where are your lungs?
CHILDREN: Right here!
LIGHTFOOT: Show me! OK, how
many lungs do you have? One?
CHILDREN: Two!
LIGHTFOOT: You sure it's not three?
CHILDREN: No.
LIGHTFOOT: OK, ready? One, two, three ... blow.
Now put your hand there. You feel the air coming
through the straw?
Thatís how your lungs feel when you are
not sick with asthma. Now, pinch your straw.
Pinch it. Pinch. Now blow.
Put your hand there. Do you feel any air?
No, just maybe a little, right? Well, that's
how a person feels when he or she has asthma.
DR. DONALD GERMAN: Asthma's an inflammatory
disease. There's inflammation in the bronchial
tree, and that inflammation,
that inflammation is something that, once it starts,
it's very difficult to turn off.
DR. PAUL SHAREK: Recognizing that the
prevalence of asthma has, you know,
skyrocketed over the last 20 years
and particularly in populations such as the
Bayview's -- lower socioeconomic populations --
at San Francisco General,
I helped set up an asthma clinic to cater to this
population in terms of access and education
and medication distribution and testing.