April 2010

May is Clean Air Month. It’s a time of the year when we should all give thought to the quality of the air we breathe, both indoors and outdoors, and what we can do to improve it. As health professionals, we know that one way of achieving cleaner air is to reduce tobacco use. In this capacity, our role consists of more than prescribing a tobacco cessation medication or filling a prescription; we need to educate patients on how to quit.

In January 2009 we launched the Tobacco Cessation Telecounseling Program to give students counseling experience in tobacco cessation. Patients of the program were Indiana Managed Care Medicaid recipients with MDwise Hoosier Health Alliance.

In addition to smoking cessation projects, several COPHS faculty and students are involved with asthma awareness and management programs.  Last August faculty members Stephanie Cater, Jennifer Chernowsky, Jane Gervasio, Bruce Hancock, Julie Koehler, Chauntae Reynolds, Kristal Williams, along with students and residents, volunteered at the Healthy Hoops basketball clinic.  This clinic uses basketball to expose children and their parents to asthma education programs.  COPHS faculty and students plan to participate in the 2010 Health Hoops event again this fall.

In June Dr. Julie Koehler will deliver a continuing pharmacy education program focusing on asthma management at the annual Butler University CE Symposium.  The official title is: “Asthma Management: Unique Challenges in the Low Income Population.’  For more information about this presentation and others that will be presented at the June 4-5 symposium, please download the brochure.