'Blow the Whistle on Asthma Walk' to Raise Awareness

9/27/2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Friends, family members and co-workers will join with Ohio State University Medical Center pulmonologists Saturday morning (9/30) to raise awareness about asthma and the importance of research and education.

The 4th annual “Blow the Whistle on Asthma Walk” steps off at 9 a.m. Saturday from Town Square Fountain at Easton Town Center (in front of the Cheesecake Factory), Townsfair Way. OSU Medical Center’s Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine is a presenting sponsor for the 5K walk Drs. John Mastronarde, director of OSU Medical Center’s asthma clinical research center, and Jonathan Parsons, a pulmonologist and asthma specialist at OSUMC, will lead the Medical Center’s team. Parsons will blow the whistle at 9 a.m. to start the event.

OSU Medical Center will have a booth set up with information concerning the importance of translational research programs aimed at improving the lives of people with asthma.

Ohio State University women’s basketball coach Jim Foster is scheduled to walk, and asthma patients and their families will also participate in the event.

It is estimated that 20 million Americans have asthma. Over 24.5 million workdays among adults and 12.8 million school days among children are missed each year due to asthma. The economic cost of asthma is $16 billion per year in the United States.

To view the OSUMC press release, go to http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/mediaroom/press/article.cfm?ID=2849

Go to http://www.ohiolung.org/ for more information about the American Lung Association of Ohio.