An initiative headed by the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy aims to use education to end pediatric asthma deaths in Newark and beyond. When two children died from asthma-related complications at the same Newark, N.J., school in 2016 and 2019, caregivers wanted answers. When the asthma deaths didn’t stop, doctors and health advocates demanded action.
“No child should die from an asthma attack,” said Denise Rodgers, vice chancellor for interprofessional programs at Rutgers Health.
To address this health crisis, Rodgers and colleagues launched Asthma Corps, a partnership between the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy and the Rutgers Health Service Corps (RHSC), a community health service and training organization for students, faculty and staff. “By working with the departments of pediatrics at University Hospital and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, and in collaboration with other Rutgers Health departments, we’ve created a community health education program involving students to decrease incidences of these preventable deaths,” Rodgers said. To read the full story.