A salute to dedicated women.

Abstract

Madam President, members and guests of the Crystal Chapter of the Asthmatic Children’s Foundation of Florida : Thank you for the privilege of speaking to you on the subject that we are mutually interested in-that of rehabilitation of the severely afflicted, intractable asthmatic child. When one realizes that in the United States one-third of all chronic conditions occurring in children under 17 years of age are caused by asthma, hay fever, and other allergies, it reflects on the seriousness and enormity of the problem. Nearly five million children suffer from chronic allergic disorders; and over 2% million of these have asthma of varying degrees of severity. About 300,000 children have intractable asthma. Ninety percent are manageable by properly instituted allergic measures. The remaining 10 percent, or approximately 30,000 asthmatic children, do not respond to modern therapeutic methods because of deep-seated emotional factors, uncorrected environmental conditions, and/or undetected special situations. Do children “outgrow” their asthma? It is a known fact that about 25 percent of asthmatic children do improve without any allergy treatment and no longer have asthmatic attacks. However, one does not know which child will fall into that 25 percent group. The tendency for allergic symptoms to become progressively worse if untreated has been documented frequently in the medical literature. If the parent, influenced by the unaware physician, permits the child to continue without allergy treatment, believing that he or she will “outgrow” the illness, harm may ensue. The end result may be an adolescent or adult who has complications of chronic pulmonary disease. In a study by the Children’s Bureau on “Illness in Children”, it was shown that over 25 percent of children with major allergies like asthma, hay fever, and allergic eczema continue to have symptoms, even a t 16 and 17. This is particularly true of those who have not been on allergy management. I would like to discuss several propositions which should be thought-provoking : Do we need an Asthmatic Residential Treatment Center for children? Yes, we do; for the compelling reason that a center such as ours reduces the incidence of life-threatening episodes of a type of grnve or malignant asthma known as status asthmaticus, prevents deaths, and importantly, teaches the