The Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma (LBACA) is focused on raising community awareness and reducing hospitalizations and school absenteeism due to asthma. LBACA uses a coalition approach to include perspectives from parents, doctors, and school nurses, working with the Miller Children’s Hospital, the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, the Long Beach Unified School District, legal aid, and managed care organizations. The program is funded through grants from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation’s Allies Against Asthma program, the California Endowment’s Community Action to Fight Asthma Program, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s British Petroleum Settlement fund.

The program has four key components: health care provider education, improved care in schools and after-school programs, community education, and policies that impact medication access or environmental trigger reduction. Community health workers, or promotoras, provide outreach and education to families in their homes in high risk neighborhoods. Schools adjust students’ physical activities dependent upon air quality, and outreach programs identify students in need of asthma control.

The goal of the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma is to raise awareness about asthma to improve clinical outcomes and influence policy change.

Through the LBACA program, 179 health care providers have been trained using Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE) programming. Community health workers have made more than 1,265 visits to over 300 families. These interventions have resulted in fewer symptoms of asthma and emergency department visits. The program has also successfully involved the community in policy recommendations.