![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090508063136im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
PRESS RELEASE: For Immediate Release –March 5, 2003
Site Navigation
 |
Research Project Search
(For questions or additional information, call Kathy Edgren: 877-640-4064)
Fine particulate matter (known as PM 2.5) is an important component of air pollution which is associated with adverse health outcomes such as aggravation of asthma and increased deaths from lung and heart diseases.
Community Action Against Asthma has measured PM 2.5 levels in southwest and eastside Detroit that are out of compliance with EPA’s standards for this pollutant.
Diesel exhaust can be an important source of PM 2.5 in urban environments. Community Action Against Asthma was monitoring PM 2.5 at a school close to the Ambassador Bridge in September 2001. Following the attacks on September 11, increased security measures caused enormous back up of idling trucks on southwest Detroit surface streets. As a result, levels of PM 2.5 were more than twice the levels before September 11th.
When asked about what it’s like to have a child with asthma, Joyce Parker, a parent participating in Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA) says “It’s frustrating and devastating. You know what to do, but you feel lost and wish it was not your child in that situation.”
“What has CAAA done to help? The program has educated me about asthma and let me know it was not my fault. I learned what the triggers of asthma were and how to reduce them by keeping things like animals and mold out of the home.”
A Community Forum to present preliminary findings of the Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA) project will be held on Saturday, March 8, from 10:00-12:00 noon at Wayne County Community College, 1001 West Fort Street. In addition to learning about results of the nearly five year old project, those in attendance will meet CAAA community organizers and have opportunities to sign up to work on neighborhood projects that affect the environment.
Donele Wilkins, head of Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice and one of the CAAA Steering Committee members says, “This is a great opportunity for community leaders who are interested in doing something in Detroit about asthma to learn more, in order to be better equipped to make a difference in this area.”
The CAAA project is a part of MCECH, the Michigan Center for the Environment and Children’s Health, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through CAAA, local agencies and community-based organizations in partnership with the University of Michigan have been working to address the problem of asthma in children in the eastside and southwest sides of Detroit. Since 2000, they have been working with 300 Detroit families with children between the ages of 7-11 who have asthma. Community Environmental Specialists, outreach workers from the local community, have been meeting with families in their homes over a two-year period to reduce exposure to household asthma triggers. In addition to the home visits, the CAAA partnership studied exposure to air pollutants to determine the effects pollutants may have on asthma symptoms. They used air monitoring stations on the rooftops of Keith and Maybury Elementary Schools, inside the schools, and used indoor air sampling machines in a small group of the families’ homes. Recently, CAAA has also been collecting information about priorities for their neighborhood intervention through a series of interviews with community leaders. Results from all of this work will be presented at the Forum.
CAAA includes a host of familiar community agencies and organizations: Butzel Family Center, Friends of Parkside, Warren Conner Development Coalition, Community Health and Social Services (CHASS), Latino Family Services, United Community Housing Coalition, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, the Detroit Health Department, and Henry Ford Health System. These groups have been working in partnership with faculty, staff and students from the University of Michigan’s Schools of Public Health and Medicine to design and implement project activities.
Those who plan to attend can call the CAAA toll-free number: 1-877-640-4064 for more details.
Created by Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA), a part of MCECH (the Michigan Center for the Environment and Children’s Health. Funded by: the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P01-ES09589 and RO1-ES10688) and the Environmental Protection Agency (PO1-ES09589). Contact Kathy Edgren, Project Manager of CAAA, for further information: 1-877-640-4064 or kedgren@umich.edu.
Centers Funded By: 