Hispanic Chats

Dr. Arelis Valerio

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Arelis Valerio, MD, AE-C, Coordinadora de Educación de la Comunidad, Hasbro Children's Hospital (Hospital De Niños Hasbro). Antes de trasladarse a los Estados Unidos, la Dra. Valerio ejerció medicina en la República Dominicana. Por los últimos cinco años, la Dra. Valerio ha trabajado para los Programas del Asma de la Comunidad en el Hasbro Children's Hospital. Sus responsabilidades incluyen reclutamiento, desarrollo de programas, y enseñanza de talleres educativos en español. Ella también coordina el “Grupo Hispano de Ayuda del Asma” para los padres de niños con asma. En el 2004, la Dra. Valerio adquirió su certificación como educadora del asma y es actualmente la única educadora del asma en el estado que es bilingüe y bicultural. Ella es reconocida como un líder entre la creciente comunidad Latina de Providence y recibió el premio “Mujer Extraordinaria 2005” y es también la madre de un hijo con asma.

Arelis Valerio, MD, AE-C, Community Education Coordinator, Hasbro Children's Hospital. Before moving to the United States, Dr. Valerio practiced medicine in the Domincan Republic. For the past five years, Dr. Valerio has worked for the Community Asthma Programs at Hasbro Children's Hospital. Her responsibilities include recruitment, program development, and teaching educational workshops in Spanish. She also coordinates the Hispanic Asthma Support Group for parents of children with asthma. In 2004, Dr. Valerio became a certified asthma educator and is currently the state's only bilingual, bicultural Asthma Educator. She is a recognized leader among Providence's burgeoning Latino community and received a 2005 Extraordinary Woman Award and is also the mother of a son with asthma.

Introduction

"Like an elephant sitting on my chest." This is how many kids with asthma describe what it feels like when they are having an asthma attack. They can't breathe. They panic and their parents do too. At Hasbro Children's Hospital, one out of every three admissions is for asthma or a related respiratory condition. Nationally, over 6 million children have asthma. These children miss over 10 million days of school each year. In our state, one out of every ten children has been diagnosed with asthma.

However, the good news about asthma is that it is can be controlled. Asthma is a disease that affects the airways in the lungs. In people with asthma, those airways can swell and close and it makes it hard to breathe - that is known as an "asthma attack." In the last thirty years, we have learned a lot about how asthma can be controlled. There are medications that are very good at treating the airways when they become swollen during an attack. Physicians understand how asthma works and can work with patients to make sure they get the treatment that works for them. But, asthma is something that must be taken care of every day. This is the hardest part about controlling asthma. People who have asthma really have the power to control their disease -- by taking medication daily, by avoiding those things in the air that can cause an attack and by learning to recognize the signs of an attack quickly and taking fast action. Then children and adults with asthma can live normal lives. Asthma can be controlled!

More information | Read the transcript of Dr. Valerio's chat