Kansas City, MO: Schools now have access to asthma meds; 'way long overdue'

May 15, 2018, Fox4, Kansas City, MO: Missouri schools now have access to live-saving medications for kids with asthma attacks http://fox4kc.com/2018/05/16/missouri-schools-now-have-access-to-live-saving-medications-for-kids-with-asthma-attacks/ Missouri schools now have access to certain medications that could save lives, and it's helping some breathe easier in class. “It`s very common; more than 150,000 children in Missouri have asthma," said Ben Francisco, an associate professor of pulmonary medicine at the University of Missouri Women's and Children's Hospital in Columbia. "And in this neighborhood, it`s one in four kids have asthma -- 25 percent. And in this neighborhood, we have the highest emergency room and hospitalization rate in the state of Missouri." Wendell Philips Elementary School showcased an asthma treatment program that could save the lives of its students on Wednesday. “The state of Missouri made it possible for schools to keep medication for any child with life-threatening asthma attacks,” Francisco said. With the help of Children’s Mercy Hospital, KC public schools now have access to medications that can treat asthma attacks. Even more importantly, school nurses can give students having attacks those medications as they wait for an ambulance to arrive. … “Way long overdue,” Francisco said. “We had very sad deaths all over the state of school-aged children who didn't understand that their asthma was life-threatening and to parents who knew their kid didn't breathe well, but didn't know they could actually die of that.” This program is helping generate awareness and saving lives. … The program has been active in several parts of the state, but Wednesday it officially started in Kansas City. The goal is to eventually cover the whole state.