Continuing in this Open Airways Program was not easy. I had a hard time getting a school to let me do the classes. I spent a month and a half trying to get a school to let me hold the classes. It seems to me that no one wants to take the responsibility or the time. I finally called Greg Kishaba at the American Lung Association (ALA) and asked him to find me a school to work with. Over all I think this program needs a little more organization between the schools and the (ALA) if it is to run smoother.
It took about a week for Greg to set me up with a school, but I finally was told I could run the program at the Alli O lani Elementary School. I went down to the school to talk to the teacher who would be getting the kids for the program. I wanted to find out how many kids would be there and how to prepare for the classes. I found out the class would have twenty-one kids. I coordinated with the teacher for every Friday starting on April 18 and go for six weeks. I knew I could not teach the class alone so I asked Mr. Koseki for another person to help me. He found someone in the health class that did not have a school yet. We spent a few hours getting the materials together for the classes.
I spent the next week or so brushing up on the lesson plan for the first couple of lessons. I was not sure how well the kids educated on the subject, so I spent a little time researching the allergy.
On April 18 I finally began my first class for the OAW for school. I was quite nervous and anxious, but it was fun. I started the class and to my amazement found the kids to be very smart. We went through lesson one, which consisted of basic information and feeling about asthma. We talked about, what is asthma, and can you get rid of it? I was quite shocked to find out that these kids know a lot about this disease. They also knew what signs to look out for before an episode happens. Then I taught them about belly breathing. Over all the class went well and we had a good time.
The next lesson was scheduled for April 25 but the school canceled the lesson for that week. We ended up rescheduling for May 2. Lesson two was a lesson on Recognizing and managing asthma symptoms. In this lesson we described the warning signs for an asthma episode. This was pretty easy since as I said from the last class the kids already knew their warning signs. We then moved on to teach them about the five step plan to manage their asthma. We talked about knowing the warning signs, then telling an adult, step three is taking medication when needed, step four rest and relax, and step five do deep cough. This was fun because we had the kids do role playing. They had to act out the five step plan.
Like before the over all assessment of the lesson was very well. It took awhile to get this program going, but now that it is going I am enjoying it very much. I am looking forward to the next four classes. The classes will be going on passed the end of the semester, so this will be my last journal.
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