Asthma education goes online to fight health inequity

<h2>A new free online tool to teach primary school children about asthma has been launched by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>One in seven Kiwi children live with asthma&comma; and one of ARFNZ’s missions is to provide these children with the tools and resources they need to manage their asthma well and live life to the full&period; Its launch of the Sailor Digital Classroom this month means children can find out about what asthma is&comma; asthma triggers&comma; how to treat asthma&comma; and what to do in an asthma emergency&comma; alongside Sailor the Pufferfish and his friend Jelly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Sailor Digital Classroom is an amazing tool because it uses a different platform to open up access to asthma education&comma; delivering the key educational elements of the &OpenCurlyQuote;live’ Sailor the Pufferfish show&comma; to every primary school in New Zealand&comma;&&num;8221&semi; says Joanna Turner&comma; Research and Education Manager at ARFNZ&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We have removed the geographical and financial barriers that exist with delivering a live show&period; While the Digital Classroom will not replace our Sailor live show&comma; it will mean that schools can receive asthma education faster&comma; and regardless of COVID alert levels&comma; which have seriously impacted our ability to deliver shows&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We can also engage with more children in schools throughout New Zealand than ever before&comma; particularly those in rural communities&comma; and schools who have hosted a live show can easily update their asthma knowledge by completing the digital classroom refresher&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Schools can register their interest on the website <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;digital&period;sailorasthmashow&period;co&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">digital&period;sailorasthmashow&period;co&period;nz<&sol;a>&period; The Foundation grants the school access to &&num;8216&semi;unlock&&num;8217&semi; the classroom to begin learning&period; Schools get access to the digital classroom for up to one month&comma; and it can be viewed multiple times&period; Once successfully completed&comma; the class receives a certificate of achievement to display on their classroom wall&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>We hope that many schools will take up this brilliant free opportunity to get asthma educated&comma; and that the children enjoy joining Sailor and Jelly on the journey to becoming &OpenCurlyQuote;Asthma Aware’&comma;&&num;8221&semi; says ARFNZ <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;new-chief-executive-for-education-council&sol;" title&equals;"Chief Executive" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Chief Executive<&sol;a> Letitia Harding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Since 2015&comma; the Foundation has educated over 77&comma;000 children in 490 primary schools throughout New Zealand&period; Asthma education plays a big role in reducing asthma-related hospitalisations&period; People may also be surprised to hear that the Foundation receives no government or Ministry of Health support to educate on asthma&semi; we do it solely through generous community grants and our family of donors&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dr David McNamara is a Respiratory Paediatrician at Starship Hospital and a member of ARFNZ’s Scientific Advisory Board&period; He says&comma; &&num;8220&semi;The Sailor Digital Classroom offers a really simple&comma; appealing and fun way for children to learn about asthma alongside their teachers&period; This is not only beneficial for the one in seven children who have asthma&comma; but also for their friends and wh&amacr;nau&comma; so they know how support a child with asthma and what to do in an asthma emergency&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ARFNZ is aiming to translate the Digital Classroom into te reo to reach M&amacr;ori medium schools and kura too&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To find out more and register for the Sailor Digital Classroom&comma; visit <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;digital&period;sailorasthmashow&period;co&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">digital&period;sailorasthmashow&period;co&period;nz<&sol;a>&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;