In accordance with Ryan’s Law (Ensuring Asthma Friendly Schools, 2015) and Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) No. 161: Supporting Children and Students with Prevalent Medical Conditions (Anaphylaxis, Asthma, Diabetes, and/or Epilepsy) in Schools (2018), school boards must establish and maintain a policy to support students with asthma. The purpose of this tip sheet is to outline activities and implementation tips to create asthma friendly schools at the board level.
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Establish a process to identify students with asthma:
Add a question to all registration forms that elicits whether or not the student has been told by a health provider that they have asthma and/or uses asthma medication/inhalers.
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Supporting a student with asthma is a collaborative effort:
Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) No. 161: Supporting Children and Students with Prevalent Medical Conditions (Anaphylaxis, Asthma, Diabetes, and/or Epilepsy) in Schools, 2018 requires that school boards work collaboratively with families to develop a Plan of Care to help students with asthma. The Plan of Care is a form that helps empower and support students with prevalent medical conditions, such as asthma. This form requires participation from the school boards, school staff, educators, parents/guardians and students.
- Easy access to asthma medication:
- Ryan’s Law requires schools to support easy access to life saving asthma medication.
- Ryan’s Law requires schools to support easy access to life saving asthma medication. Ensuring students with asthma have quick and easy access to their reliever asthma inhaler (usually a blue inhaler) allows them to treat and relieve their asthma symptoms promptly and prevent the need for 9-1-1 calls and death caused by asthma. Most students aged seven years or older are capable of deciding when medication is required and have the skills to administer their medication properly.
- For students who are unable to carry their own inhaler, the medication should be available within easy reach, such as the classroom.
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A process for handling worsening asthma:
Ensure that the school board has a policy that clearly outlines the process for handling worsening asthma and asthma attacks within your schools.
- A mechanism to identify and reduce common asthma triggers within the schools:
- Establish a process to identify and reduce common asthma triggers in schools.
- Support the installation of HVAC systems that provide clean indoor air.
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Support for students with asthma to participate in physical activity and play:
Ensure all students with asthma are encouraged and supported to fully participate in all school sponsored activities, including physical activities and outdoor play.
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Opportunities for asthma education (For example, school staff, parents/guardians, students and volunteers):
Advocate and provide support for all members of the school community to participate in asthma education initiatives and asthma awareness activities.
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Collaborate with others (For example, health care providers, public health, parents/guardians and community partners) to create asthma friendly settings:
School board staff should meet with administrators and health care professionals to discuss policy changes, current practices and updates on asthma information annually.
