Greater Lowell Community Foundation Receives Grant for Asthma Spacers for School Kids
From l to r, front row: Christine Durkin, School Nurse Manager – Lowell Health Department; Kerrie D’Entremont, Executive Director – Greater Lowell Health Alliance; Kerran Vigroux, Director of Health and Human Services – City of Lowell; Laurie Guay, School Nurse Manager – Lowell Health Department; Hope Desruisseaux, School Nurse Manager – Lowell Health Department; Huyen Huynh, School Nurse – Shaughnessy School. From l to r, back row: Jay Linnehan, GLCF President and CEO; and Walter Makiej, Respiratory Delivery Systems Inc.; Beth Moffett, School Nurse Coordinator – Lowell Health Department
The Greater Lowell Community Foundation (GLCF) received a recent $20,000 grant from the Greater Lowell Health Alliance (GLHA) for the Asthma Spacers for School Kids program. In partnership with Respiratory Delivery Systems Inc. in Chelmsford, GLCF will make two 510k FDA-approved asthma medicine delivery devices, the Microspacer and Microchamber, available free of charge to students in need in the Greater Lowell area.
In the 2018/19 school year, nearly 2,900 students enrolled in the Lowell public school district had an asthma condition. “This is another excellent example of a public/private partnership that addresses an issue in the city of Lowell that has real community impact,” said Jay Linnehan, GLCF President and CEO. “Suffering from asthma affects a student’s overall health and for many leads to nurse and emergency room visits and lost days in school.”
“We are thrilled to be able to support this important initiative. It’s wonderful to see the Lowell Health Department get the necessary tools and equipment needed to help the large number of children suffering from asthma in the Lowell area,” GLHA Executive Director Kerrie D’Entremont said.
The grant will provide almost 2400 asthma spacer devices at no cost to students in Lowell Public and area schools. These easy-to-use and discreet spacers greatly improve the delivery of asthma medicine to the lungs greatly improving its effectiveness. There may be sufficient quantity for nurses to give students two – one for home and one for school.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children should always use a spacer with their inhaler to ensure more medication reaches the lungs,” said Beth Moffett, School Nurse Coordinator, Lowell Health Department. “We are thrilled to receive the MicroSpacer and MicroChamber devices to distribute to all our students with asthma. The children will benefit from their use, feel better faster, and thus will be able to return to the classroom and focus on their education.”
The spacers have been delivered to Lowell Public Health, to be dispersed to the school nurses later in the month. Each spacer will be accompanied by an instruction sheet that has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer.
For more information on the Greater Lowell Community Foundation please visit www.glcfoundation.org.
