Jamaica Hospital was recently awarded the Stony Wold-Herbert Community Grant which will be used to train one of the hospital’s Respiratory Therapist (RT) to become a Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C).
An asthma educator is a health professional who, in addition to their clinical licensure training, has earned a certification from the National Asthma Educator Certification Board. Becoming an asthma educator requires passing the National Asthma Certification Exam.
Queens has one of the highest asthma-related emergency department visit rates in New York City; and while there is a downward trend in hospital admission rates, Queens is still among the highest. Research has shown that patient education and disease self-management can help reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations due to asthma.
Our Respiratory Therapist / Certified Asthma Educator will work with Discharge Planning over a five-month period, approximately ten hours per week, seeing patients who are being discharged to educate them on their disease as well as the use of medications and self- management.
While Jamaica Hospital’s overall goal is to decrease emergency room visits and hospitalizations, we also hope to improve the quality of life for our patients who suffer from asthma, as well as their families through this effort.