Roseland Community Hospital

Roseland Community Hospital Asthma Care

Bringing Needed Asthma Care to Children

More than one in four children in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood have asthma, yet no asthma specialists work in the far south side community. For more than a decade, the neighborhood led the city in asthma hospitalizations.

To address the unmet need, Roseland Community Hospital teamed up with Mobile Care Chicago to create The Roseland Community Initiative, which provides children with complete, no-cost asthma care in Asthma Vans. The initiative launched in 2013 through partnerships with nine local schools and Roseland Community Hospital.

Since then, the initiative has achieved important results for children:

  • Asthma-related admissions in the emergency department (ED) have decreased by over 80 percent;
  • Pediatric asthma ED visits have fallen by 84 percent; and
  • Among Asthma Van patients, 98 percent miss fewer days of school than the national average.

Shifting children’s asthma care from ED treatment to active management and prevention on the Asthma Van is saving families and hospitals from costly emergent care.

“For the many families who are now able to receive on-going, no-cost healthcare and medications on the Asthma Van, they tell us that their lives have been transformed,” said Matt Siemer, Executive Director of Mobile Care Chicago.

The initiative received national recognition with two awards in 2017.