Gillibrand hoping to breathe easier

A bill to amend Part D of Title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants to schools for the development of asthma management plans and the purchase of asthma inhalers and spacers for emergency use, as necessary (S. 2817, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.).

It took only one late-night trip to the emergency room for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) to realize that child and teen asthma would be one of her causes as a public official.

Gillibrand’s 6-year-old son, Theodore, has had asthma from birth. A few years ago, he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t breathe. Gillibrand and Theodore went to the hospital, where he was treated for the asthma attack.

“There is nothing scarier than sitting with your child when he can’t breathe and there is absolutely nothing you can do to make it better,” she said in an e-mail statement. “I’ve been with my son in the ER at 2 a.m., and God forbid I couldn’t afford the medications he needed. No child and no family should have to live in fear of not being able to treat or prevent these terrifying attacks.”

Her experience as a mother of a child with asthma has led her to introduce several pieces of legislation related to the treatment of the breathing disorder. The most recent, a bill introduced in November, would address asthmatic children’s emergency needs during the school day. It would establish a $100 million grant program for low-income schools in areas with high incidences of asthma to create asthma management plans and buy emergency inhalers and spacers. The bill was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Gillibrand’s spokeswoman said 14 percent of low-income children in New York have asthma, and more than 40,000 of the state’s children were hospitalized between 2005 and 2007 for asthma attacks. She said these children will likely need new inhalers anyway, because the propellant currently used in inhalers is being phased out due to environmental concerns.

The bill has been endorsed by the American Lung Association, the Merck Childhood Asthma Network and state and local government. 

“My own child has asthma, so I know about the horrible toll this can have on children,” Gillibrand said. “We have a moral obligation to the children of [New York] to ensure their health and well-being. My plan will put more inhalers in schools, train more teachers and health professionals to be experts in asthma and give more families the resources they need to care for their children’s asthma.”

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