Resources for Maine asthmatics

A layperson enters the arena of medical politics with considerable fear and trepidation, given its Machiavellian subtleties and nuances. However, it suffices to note that from the point of view of the current medical literature on asthma, Dr. Paul Shapero was directly on target in his guest column (BDN, Aug. 6), responding to a previous column of medical advice which appeared in your newspaper. Dr. Paul Donohue’s advice certainly reflects an outdated understanding of asthma, its treatment and its capacity to limit the lives of those who suffer with it.

What was surprising in Dr. Shapero’s column was his listing of resources available to individuals with asthma and their families. There needs to be an addendum to this list. Here are several:

(1) His own practice and that of several local pediatricians. The Bangor area is uniquely blessed in having Dr. Shapero, a board-certified specialist in immunology and asthma/allergies, offering an incredibly high level of expertise, given the population demographics of this region. Dr. Shapero maintains a full educational component in his private practice, with a health educator prepared to offer asthma education services to adults as well as children. Two other local physicians devote a considerable share of their practices to helping children with asthma and their families, Dr. Leo Leonidas and Dr. Yeow Tan.

(2) Under the leadership of Dr. James Hirschfeld of the Pediatrics Department of the Eastern Maine Medical Center (the only hospital in this region of the state with a full-blown Department of Pediatrics), a children’s asthma clinic, led by a trained health educator, Janet Thompson, B.S., R.N., was established last year. Within six months of its opening this clinic moved from operating on a part-time basis to now offering full-time in- and out-patient services for children with asthma and their families. Some 200 families have availed themselves of the clinical and educational resources of this facility in the past year. The clinic is the only one currently operating in the state of Maine.

It is a local, immediately available resource serving the children and families of this region. It can be reached locally at 945-7553. Families who have children with asthma in this region outside the immediate Bangor area should contact their local regional hospital, since a number of hospitals in eastern and northern Maine also offer educational programs for children with asthma and their families.

(3) The American Lung Association of Maine has sponsored a camp for children with asthma for a number of years. Recently, utilizing a grant from the Bingham Consortium for Health Research, it has greatly expanded its efforts to insure there is asthma education available across the entire state. It provides hotline services through its toll-free number, 1-800-462-5864. Its parent organization, the American Lung Association, also has a toll-free number offering information on asthma and other lung diseases: 1-800-999-LUNG.

(4) Dr. Shapero rightly lists three national organizations that devote their energies to providing asthma information and education, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Mothers of Asthmatics Inc., and the American Academic of Allergy and Immunology. Surely, one must add to this list of national organizations, the preeminent national hospital solely devoted to children with severe asthma, the National Jewish Hospital in Denver, Colo., which also offers excellent information on asthma through its foll-free number, 1-800-222-5864.

The people of eastern and northern Maine are fortunate to have a broad range of clinical and educaitonal services devoted to persons with asthma, in no small measure due to the efforts of Dr. Paul Shapero. He is to be commended for the open and forthright manner in which he shares his expertise benefiting so many of the people of this region. William L. England Executive Director Penobscot Valley Health Association Bangor