MedicAlert to Sponsor Stanislaus County Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program
TURLOCK, California (April 27, 2005) The air quality in Stanislaus County and the surrounding San Joaquin Valley of Central California is considered to be among the worst in the nation. This has prompted MedicAlert Foundation to sponsor in part the Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program in Stanislaus County.
The Stanislaus County Asthma Coalition is implementing the flag program to alert individuals with medical conditions—especially those with asthma, allergies and other respiratory-related diseases—of the County’s daily air quality forecast.
The goal is for color-coded flags to be flown over the area’s 245 schools to serve as a visual communication device to alert parents, students, teachers, staff, and surrounding neighborhoods of forecasted daily air pollution exposure risks. Based on the Air Quality Index (AQI) of the San Joaquin Air Pollution Control
District, the flags will indicate Healthy Air (Green Flag), Moderate Air (Yellow), Poor Air for Sensitive Groups (Orange), or Unhealthy Air (Red).
Asthma is a chronic respiratory inflammatory disorder that causes recurrent episodes of wheezing, coughing, breathlessness, and chest tightness. It affects over 33,000 Stanislaus County residents—12,000 of which are children. Asthma is the number one reason for school absences due to chronic health conditions and can be life threatening without proper management.
“By raising these flags, we hope to raise awareness and change routine behavior to help prevent or reduce the severity of asthma attacks,” said Wallace Carroll, MD, an allergist and Chairman of the Asthma Coalition. “If a student has asthma, the flag can help determine outdoor P.E. plans. If it’s a bad air day, perhaps we can delay mowing the lawn or lighting the fireplace. There’s a lot we can all do to help reduce missed school and work days due to asthma. We are very grateful to MedicAlert for offering their support of this vital program.”
“MedicAlert is pleased to sponsor this important community program by underwriting the cost of the flags for local schools,” said Paul Kortschak, MedicAlert President and CEO. “MedicAlert was founded in 1956 to protect and save lives because of a Turlock school child with an allergy, so it is fitting we offer our support. By working together with the Asthma Coalition, we hope to help local residents with breathing-related conditions.”
The Stanislaus County Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program has captured the attention of state and national leaders. Dr. Derek G. Shendell, an environmental public health scientist and Interim Executive Director of the Community Action to Fight Asthma Initiative’s (CAFA’s) California State Coordinating Office, is excited to hear
of plans to implement the program. The Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program was initiated by CAFA local asthma coalitions in Merced-Mariposa and Tulare counties and further expanded in Fresno by the American Lung Association of Central California. “The outdoor air quality flags program is an excellent example of how science-based environmental education and visual risk communication can reduce children’s exposures to known environmental asthma triggers, namely ozone and particles, outdoors as well as inside the school.”
To learn more about the flag program, contact the Stanislaus County Asthma Coalition at 209-558-8858,
MedicAlert at 209-669-2412, or CAFA at 510-622-4444.
About Stanislaus County
Over 33,000 people in Stanislaus County have asthma, more than 12,000 of which are children. Nearly 5,000 people have emphysema and over 14,000 have chronic bronchitis. Modesto rates in the Top 25 Most Polluted Metropolitan Areas for Short-Term (#11) and Year-Round (#17) Particle Pollution.
*According to the American Lung Association’s 2004 State of the Air Report.
About the Stanislaus County Asthma Coalition
The Stanislaus County Asthma Coalition is comprised of 50 volunteer representatives from a wide array of organizations who are concerned about asthma. Its mission is to create an “asthma-friendly” community by promoting awareness, education, management and prevention.
About MedicAlert
Founded in 1956, in Turlock, MedicAlert ( www.medicalert.org ) is one of the world's largest nonprofit membership organizations with a mission to protect and save lives. The MedicAlert Electronic Health Record provides a secure and seamless transfer of identification and medical information to health and safety professionals 24/7 anywhere in the world, thereby ensuring patient safety and improving quality of care.