We are proud to announce HealthCare PSI’s first patient care initiative -  PEAK 4 Kids™ (People Educating for Asthma Kare)  PEAK is a simple but effective program designed to detect asthma and other breathing-related disorders in K-12 children.

UPDATE February 2012: In response to the needs of participating PEAK school officials, PEAK 4 Kids™ has now expanded to include: 1) asthma and COPD screening and education for adults,  2) smoking cessation education for adults and students and 3) allergy emergency & anaphlylaxis education training for school nurses, teachers and other school officials.

Dr. Stanley Horner, Adjunct Professor at Lincoln University, and Board Certified in Pediatric Asthma & Allergy Medicine & Immunology, is Medical Director for this project. Dr. Horner has been prinicpal investigator in more than 30 clinical trials, and has a heart for those who suffer needlessly with respiratory disorders.

As of January 15, more than 10,000 K-12 students in 19 rural schools across central Missouri are benefitting from this project. Our waiting list of schools grows each week and we will be expanding into additional states later this year. (Watch for announcements.)

PEAK 4 Kids™ brings together stakeholders working in respiratory health to help local communities address the needs of their residents. Early stakeholders in PEAK 4 Kids™  include The COPD Foundation, Lincoln University, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Philips Respironics, PARI Respiratory and Walgreens Pharmacists. 

The geographic focus of this project is rural America, underserved communities and cities with fewer than 300,000 residents. These areas have been passed over year after year by CDC-funded respiratory health initiatives that focus primarily on urban centers. Healthcare resources are generally limited in outstate areas, making a program like PEAK vital for improving community health.

Facts:

25 million people have asthma in the US. Half are undiagnosed. Annual cost to treat: $56 Billion. Shockingly, half of all those patients diagnosed are not getting proper treatment.

12 million people have COPD in the US; another 12 million struggle with the disease but are still undiagnosed. Annual cost to treat: $34 Billion. Again, half of these patients are not getting appropriate care.

We don’t know why patients are going undiagnosed and misdiagnosed. We do know that effective treatment is not reaching patients.  Many people spend years – sometimes decades – being treated repeatedly for respiratory infections, bronchitis and pneumonia without ever being screened for the underlying cause. (HealthCare PSI’s founder was one of those kids.) The result is needless and sometimes permanent lung damage.

HealthCare PSI’s core mission is to work for patients and educate the public about preventable medical harm. Failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, failure to treat are all common forms of preventable medical harm. Addressing undiagnosed/unmanaged respiratory disorders through PEAK 4 Kids™ seems a very good fit for us, and a great first project.

Our Goal: To make PEAK 4 Kids™ the go-to program for any community in the nation lacking a comprehensive plan to address the respiratory health needs of its residents.

 If you’d like to bring PEAK 4 Kids™ to your school and community, or would simply like more information about the project, send an email to PEAK@healthcarepsi.org.

We’d be delighted to hear from you.