Asthma Sufferers, Yet Happy Campers

A small mountain of sleeping bags and duffels grew in front of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center on Tuesday morning, as 42 children prepared to depart for asthma camp.

The kids -- nearly all with asthma -- will spend the next week encamped at UC Santa Barbara, enjoying camp staples such as arts and crafts and swimming. On the less classic side, there will also be study hall, science class and writing workshops.

The camp works on the premise that a child who can read well is more likely to get proper treatment for asthma, said Dr. Larry Robinson, director of the allergy and immunology division at the hospital.

“Asthma education without literacy wasn’t working,” said Robinson. “We want the kids to understand what their healthcare needs are, and we want them to be good students. The hope is for them to get a good job one day and have health insurance.”

More than 20 million people in the United States have asthma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is characterized by severe shortness of breath, which often sends sufferers to the emergency room.

Robinson said he got the idea for the camp while interviewing county jail residents with asthma. “Only a small percentage of them had ever been to an allergist since they were a child,” Robinson said. “Once they got to be 18, most of the males never got care. By doing it this way, we’re working with the kids over time.”

Robinson holds Saturday literacy sessions throughout the year for the children. Most live near the Willowbrook hospital, which serves minority communities in South Los Angeles.

Dwayne Polee, 12, of South Los Angeles was headed to his seventh asthma camp. Already 6-feet-3 1/2, Polee and his mother credited the camp with allowing him to play basketball without struggling for every breath.

“He looks forward to it every year,” said Polee’s mom, Yolanda Kenon. “He has learned how to use the inhalers and how the respiratory system works, but I also love the reading part of it -- he’s been reading since he was 4 or 5.”