The Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition (MMCAC) has just finished celebrating its ten-year anniversary as a grassroots, community-based health organization whose mission is “controlling asthma through awareness and education”. What started out as a small group of local respiratory therapists, school nurses, and health care providers, has grown into a diverse group which includes parents of children with asthma, doctors, nurses, community leaders, environmental activists, and farmers.
The coalition’s membership grew 10% last year with monthly meeting attendance tripling from 2006. Asthma became a subject people were talking about as documented in the more than 50 news articles from newspapers, television and radio announcements throughout the Valley highlighting the MMCAC, especially as it pertained to indoor and outdoor air quality. The MMCAC provided over 50 asthma education presentations, spoke at more than a dozen city council meetings, presented information at events throughout Merced County, and met with dozens of community decision-makers in 2007. MMCAC was also instrumental in providing educational forums for the community such as: The “8-Hour Ozone Community Workshop” with 35 participants and “Breathe Well, Live Well: An Asthma Management Program for Adults”.
Some of the most interesting and collaborative regional work MMCAC has done this year has been around the 2007 Ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP). The purpose of a SIP is to show the path that will lead to attaining clean air standards by specific dates. For the past year, our collaborative groups have been focused on holding our local air district accountable for bumping up from serious nonattainment to extreme nonattainment, which means the San Joaquin Valley may not have clean summertime air until 2024. With the 2007 Ozone Plan, clean air advocates followed the issue from the local level to the state level and gathered more support and partnerships along the way. While the nonattainment date and severity classification did not change, there were policy change successes such as the more stringent state diesel truck rule and the governor’s decision to sign SB 719 (Machado).
Coalition staff and members were instrumental in raising the level of community involvement at two public hearings regarding the 2007 8-hour Ozone Plan in April and June as well as a vigil held last month during the San Joaquin Valley Air District’s first PM 2.5 workshop. MMCAC’s Program Associate, Melissa Kelly-Ortega, was tapped to sit on the California Air Resources Board San Joaquin Valley Task Force to examine and improve the ozone plan passed by the SJVAPCD before the state passed it to the EPA. Along with learning about the technicalities of reducing ozone levels in the Valley she also learned more about the specifics of empowering the community to engage in decision making processes.
As a result, 70 participants attended the California Air Resources Board Community Meeting in Merced, where the co-founder of Moms Clean Air Network (Moms CAN) and MMCAC member, Lisa Kayser-Grant, took the stage with Kelly-Ortega to present the community’s point of view regarding the 2007 Ozone Plan process. Community members shared thoughtful ideas and asked educated questions on how to create a healthier environment in the San Joaquin Valley.
Strategizing with the Central Valley Air Quality (CVAQ) Coalition and others for media outreach, trips to Sacramento, and comment letters, the 2007 Ozone plan became a kitchen table conversation. The actions of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD) Board became more public as well. Enacting SB 719 will make it more difficult for board members to argue the SJVAPCD is not a public health agency by putting four extra seats on the local air board: two more city seats and two which will have expertise in the health impacts of breathing bad air (a physician and a scientist). MMCAC staff and volunteers as well as members of CVAQ will be pursuing the best candidates for the four seats.
We are very fortunate to have received funding from The California Endowment since 2002 through the Community Action to Fight Asthma (CAFA) Initiative. With TCE’s help, The Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition has been able to provide the “Asthma-Friendly Flag Program” to over 130 schools throughout Merced County. The first flags were flown in 2004 at the Merced Office of Education and are flying at close to 100% of the schools throughout the county with the last school district committing to fly the flags as soon as they plan the District-wide “roll-out” with the help of MMCAC. The overall goal of the flag program is to implement a County-wide policy that keeps children indoors or alters children’s outdoor activities if it is a “bad air day”, which will protect children’s health and prevent permanent damage to their airways. Implementing the flag program has been instrumental in raising public awareness regarding asthma and outdoor air quality, as we witnessed in September during the fires that cancelled football and soccer games in Merced and other parts of the Valley.
The “Asthma-Friendly Flag Program” is such a success that Mary-Michal Rawling, MMCAC’s Program Manager, was invited to be the guest speaker at the Texas State-wide Asthma Coalition meeting this year in Austin. The Asthma Coalition of Texas will continue working with MMCAC to ensure the flag program is implemented in schools throughout their state.
The October 2007, Volume 70, No. 3, Journal of Environmental Health featured Rawling and MMCAC Chair Alicia Bohlke for their work on the Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program in an article titled: “A School-Based Educational Intervention to Potentially Help Reduce Children’s Exposure to Environmental Asthma Triggers”. View the abstract at: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+outdoor+air+quality+flag+program+in+Central+California%3a+a...-a0170119086
The Flag Program has also been implemented at Golden Valley Health Centers (GVHC) this year at two sites: Modesto’s Florida Suites and Merced’s Central Campus. The Merced campus serves as a pilot site for the “Green Buildings” grant, which is a collaborative grant between GVHC and MMCAC. This collaborative grant created an opportunity for Golden Valley Health Centers to “Go Green”. The newly formed “Green Team” will implement a sub-irrigation system that will conserve water at the site as well as a “Bike to Work” Program. This has been a wonderful opportunity to educate staff and patients about the health benefits of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
MMCAC staff continued to work with Golden Valley Health Centers to educate health educators and providers on the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program’s (NAEPP) best practices for asthma management by actively participating in the GVHC’s 2007 Asthma Campaign and Asthma Task Force. Forming the Asthma Task Force has not only raised awareness in best practices for GVHC providers, but data shows a rising number of patients at GVHC are being diagnosed with asthma, which demonstrates raising awareness at all levels leads to better diagnosis and management of asthma.
MMCAC continued it’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools work in four area schools. “The IAQ Tools for Schools Program is a comprehensive resource to help schools maintain a healthy environment in school buildings by identifying, correcting, and preventing IAQ problems. Poor indoor air quality can impact the comfort and health of students and staff, which, in turn, can affect concentration, attendance, and student performance. In addition, if schools fail to respond promptly to poor IAQ, students and staff are at an increased risk of short-term health problems, such as fatigue and nausea, as well as long-term problems like asthma.” http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/index.html
This year’s program became especially exciting when a partnership was formed with MMCAC, one area school, and a local “Roots and Shoots” leadership program in order to solve the school’s bat problem. The “Roots and Shoots” group, lead by young women, will be collecting specific data on the bats and then building bat boxes to divert the endangered creatures from roosting in one of the main buildings on campus. This will assist the school with the potential allergens that come from bats.
The asthma coalition also took the lead on local land-use issues in 2007. Last January, members of the coalition voted to oppose a Wal-Mart Distribution Center proposed for Southeast Merced due to the extra 900 diesel truck trips a day the center would bring. That would equate to one diesel truck every minute traveling on roads next to homes and schools. It would undeniably worsen the air quality for the residents and schoolchildren living in the area. Volunteers will continue working on the issue as the Environmental Impact Report comes out in the spring of 2008.
In the pursuit of creating healthier communities, MMCAC staff and volunteers currently sit on various focus groups for the Merced County General Plan Update to advocate for Merced County’s best growth plan. MMCAC will continue to collaborate with groups such as: Moms Clean Air Network, Merced Alliance for Responsible Growth, Stop Wal-Mart Action Team, Valley Land Alliance, and the Merced Bike Coalition in order to educate decision-makers about the benefits of sustainable growth.
Mary-Michal Rawling continues to be the key environmental health voice for improved air quality in Merced County. Reporters often call on Mary-Michal when a story arises that needs an environmental expert’s point of view. Rawling maintains her seat on the Citizens Advisory Committee in an effort to make certain the residents of the Central Valley are informed of the air quality issues that affect them on a local and regional level. She has created many opportunities for community members to actively participate in the process of cleaning the air in the San Joaquin Valley.
MMCAC has had an amazing year in 2007. As 2008 begins, MMCAC will be the leading organization for the “Freedom from Smoking” Master Trainer course that will provide training to at least 20 health care professionals thanks to a partnership with Merced Medical Center and a grant from Catholic Healthcare West. As we forge new partnerships and gain new membership, our focus will be to create a healthier community for the residents in the San Joaquin Valley.
More information on the Merced/Mariposa County Asthma Coalition can be found on our website: http://www.mmcac.com. Have a Healthy and Happy New Year! |
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