Kids With Asthma Breathe Easier Away From Air Pollution

by: Steven Dowshen, MD
May 11, 2009

Better air quality is associated with a significant reduction of airway inflammation in kids with asthma, according to a new study.

Researchers report that just 1 week after a group of school-age kids left an urban area for a rural one, airway inflammation went down and “virtually every single child more or less increased pulmonary [lung] function.”

The study recruited 37 children with mild but persistent untreated asthma who lived in a highly polluted urban environment and moved them to a less polluted rural area.

After 7 days, researchers noted that most of the kids had a rapid and highly significant improvement in lung function. While other studies have shown that pollution exposure increases airway inflammation, this is the first to suggest that this effect might be reversible.

The study concludes that some kids with asthma may need much less or even no asthma medications if they breathe cleaner air. But, of course, that’s not possible for many kids with asthma, so the researchers urge officials to work to “clean the air in cities. Our situation in the U.S. has improved, but there’s much more to do.”

What This Means to You

Although ozone has received a great deal of press, it’s not the only pollutant that causes poor air quality. In 2004, the American Lung Association also included particle pollution levels in its annual “State of the Air” report for the United States.

Particle pollution refers to tiny particles of acids (such as nitrates and sulfates), dust, dirt, smoke, soot, and droplets from aerosols that are suspended in the air we breathe. The smaller the particles, the deeper they can get into the lungs, where they cause problems.

Twenty-three percent of the population of the United States, including 1,500,000 kids with asthma, live in areas with levels of particle pollution that are unhealthy year-round.

If you live in an area with poor air quality, it might not be possible to completely eliminate your child’s exposure, but you can minimize it by monitoring pollution levels and planning accordingly when they’re going to be high.

The Air Quality Index (AQI), created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), monitors outdoor air quality by measuring levels of five major air pollutants in 700 U.S. counties. The AQI uses a color-coded system to indicate when air quality is dangerous. Green or yellow are acceptable colors, and orange, purple, or maroon mean kids should limit their time outdoors.

The AQI varies from season to season, day to day, and even from morning to evening. In cities of more than 350,000 people, state and local agencies are required to publicly report the index daily, but many smaller communities also do so. Your area also might report the next day’s index, allowing you to plan ahead.

You can obtain Air Quality Index information:

a. from weather reports

b. in the newspaper

c. at www.airnow.gov

On days when air quality is poor, run the air conditioning and limit your child’s time outside. Plan any outdoor activities for early in the day – when air quality tends to be better – and avoid spending time in areas where there’s a lot of traffic.

If your child participates in a sport that practices outside during hot weather, you should talk to the coach about alternate arrangements, such as working out in an air-conditioned gym. Also, make sure your child always has his or her rescue medication on hand.

Improving the air quality in your home is also a good idea. You can do this by using an air cleaner, venting all gas appliances to the outside, and avoiding wood fires in your house.

You should also talk to your child’s doctor about increasing medication during times when air pollution is high. This can be included as part of your child’s asthma action plan.

Source: “Less Air Pollution Leads to Rapid Reduction of Airway Inflammation and Improved Airway Function in Asthmatic Children.” Pediatrics, March 2009.

Source: Kids Health

Green House A New York family expands their home, reduces carbon footprint

By Matthew Spana
May. 12, 2009

The Ellenbogen family of Pelham Manor, New York, lives in a large stone house, with a gym, an elevator, and an indoor fountain. Sound impressive? It is, but the most amazing part of this home is the size of its carbon footprint-not its 8,000 square feet of living space. The Ellenbogen home runs on geothermal and solar energy.

A carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air when oil or gas is burned to create a product, drive an engine, or fuel a vehicle. Carbon dioxide harms the environment and contributes to global warming.

When homeowners Rich and Maryann Ellenbogen built their dream home, they made sure it did not have a big carbon footprint. Mr. Ellenbogen designed and built an energy-efficient, cost effective “smart” home with geothermal heating and cooling, recycled rainwater, solar panels, and energy efficient design.

Geothermal heating and cooling systems use heat from water pumped up from inside the earth. It is not a common system in the New York area. It consists of a 750 foot pipe drilled down into three wells under the house. The water pumped up from underground is at 52 degrees. To heat the house in winter a heat pump pulls the heat out of the water and heats another system of water. That water travels through tubes in the floors of the house. This is called radiant heating. In the summer, to cool the house, the system runs in reverse. Heat is pulled from the house and added back to the water. As it travels down it is returned to the ground at a higher temperature.

The Ellenbogen house also collects rainwater and stores it in large tanks in the basement. The two daughters, Sarah, who is 7, and Rachel, who is 9, call this the “train room” because the big tanks look like trains. The tanks recycle and use this water for the grass and plants around the house.

Fifty solar panels installed on the side of the property collect energy from the sun. The solar panels provide electricity for the entire house. In fact, the solar panel system can run up to three regular sized homes!

On really sunny days, extra energy is created and the electric meter runs backwards, subtracting from the electric bill. On cloudy days when more is power is needed, they get it from the electric company. These panels are very expensive to install, but can save a lot of money over time.

Some other green products in the home are energy efficient windows and insulation. Mr. Ellenbogen says these are things most homeowners can do to reduce their own carbon footprints. Even kids can help, he told Scholastic News.

“Remind your readers to turn off lights and the television when they leave rooms,” he said. The Ellenbogens have something really cool for this. They can control the lights and temperature in each room by computer!

Source: Scholastic News Online

Marine Inspires Youth Through Football

By Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bobby J. Yarbrough
Special to American Forces Press Service
May 11, 2009

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, While growing up in the inner city of St. Louis, Marine Corps Sgt. Timothy Craig had two choices: turn to sports or the streets.For Craig, football was the answer. He started playing at age 7, was very successful and pursued it throughout his youth.During high school, Craig grew into a leader on the field, which kept him on the right path even while school presented its challenges.”I struggled with school work,” he admitted. “The only reason I went to high school was because of football.”

Craig continued to struggle with school work throughout high school and beyond. After a year at Joplin Junior College in Joplin, Mo., his grades were not holding up, and Craig had to abandon his dream of playing college football. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2004.

While serving in California with the Corps, Craig continued to play an active role in the football community, coaching a youth league at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and playing on the all-Marine team at Camp Pendleton. After arriving on Okinawa in 2007, he became a coach in the Kadena Youth Tackle Football League. After two seasons, the league was disbanded because there wasn’t enough interest.

But Craig saw things differently.

“A lot of the kids were heartbroken,” Craig said. “I thought it was upsetting that these kids had no outlet, and I thought something had to be done. These kids sacrifice enough being part of the military community, and I didn’t think they should have to sacrifice football as well.”

Seeing a need for a youth tackle football league, Craig decided to start up the Okinawa Youth Football League.

The league is straightforward. There are no contracts, trade deadlines, advertisements or concession stands. It is just 15 teams dedicated to football, pure and simple.
The entire league is funded by contributions from the players’ parents, Craig said.

The league does not single out individual effort or award most valuable player trophies. Instead, coaches stress the importance of teamwork and how each player’s contribution is important to the overall team. The players give their all, not for money, but only for the love of the game. They play through fatigue not for fame, but simply to learn the game of football, Craig said.

“The league teaches humility,” he said. “Players learn the difference between winning and losing, they learn the definition of teamwork, and they learn about their individual character. But, as coaches, we remind them that it’s not about winning and losing, it’s about learning fundamentals and having fun.”

Craig said the most important thing about the league is the academic performance a player must maintain to remain eligible to play. Coaches monitor grades, and players must maintain a 2.0 grade point average and proper attendance records.

“The league is built on the very principle that kept me from pursuing my dreams,” Craig said. “I want these kids to realize that although sports are significant, the most important aspect is education”

(Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bobby J. Yarbrough serves with Marine Corps Bases Japan.)
Source: America Supports You

A Holocaust Survivor’s Legacy of Pain and Hope

by Elizabeth Semrai
May 11, 2009

A grandmother’s mission to never let the children forget

In February 1942, at the height of Adolf Hitler’s reign and in the throes of World War II, 11-year-old Ela Stein was forced with her Jewish-Czech family to move into the Terezín concentration camp, more widely known under its German name, Theresienstadt. Expelled from her home and separated from other loved ones and the world she knew, she remained captive for three-and-a-half years, until the end of the war.

Terezín was a fortressed zone northwest of Prague in what was Czechoslovakia. Strangely referred to as a “model ghetto” by the Nazis, the concentration camp had false signage for schools and shops, which was used to dupe outsiders. Oddly enough, it was known for its real musical output. There, the young girl and hundreds of other children, amid chaos, sang and played tattered musical instruments – all to entertain Hilter’s Army.

Brundibár, the seminal opera of the Holocaust, ultimately shaped the girl’s life. Composed by Hans Krása, who himself was a prisoner at Terezín, it’s a children’s story about a villainous organ grinder who terrorizes the other meek characters. Stein was in the original cast as the cat, and she was forced to perform the opera with other enslaved children throughout her internment. And although the opera was performed specifically for, and enjoyed by, the Nazis, little did they know that the piece’s hidden meaning was about them. Each show was a veritable staged victory against the enemy.

In 1944, the Red Cross visited Terezín. The representatives were to film a segment to bring back to the United States because of vague reports circulating about the cruel treatment of Jewish prisoners. Brundibár, as successful propaganda, deluded the Red Cross and the outside world of what was really occurring. In retrospect, the only hint anyone could’ve had was in a publicity photograph of the entire cast, where not one child was smiling.

The opera was performed 55 times, though rarely by the same cast because children were taken away and killed at Auschwitz. The composer, Krása, suffered the same fate. Of the estimated 15,000 children who came through Terezín, including those who performed in Brundibár, fewer than 100 survived. Stein was one of them. Today, she stands as one of the last survivors.

In America, things dramatically changed for the girl. She married and became Ela Stein

Weissberger, who now lives in Tappan, N.Y., a suburb of New York City. A grandmother of four – two grandsons, ages 21 and 24, and two granddaughters, 6 and 10 – she’s a source of admiration and compassion and a figure of fun, especially when she dances and performs karaoke with them. In between visits to her grandchildren, who live in Florida and North Carolina, she travels across the United States and to Europe, mainly for documentary filming and appearances about her ordeal in Terezín and life as a Holocaust survivor.

Recounting her story and sharing life experiences is Weissberger’s mission. This past winter, while in Pamplona, Spain, she was invited to a memorial event where she and 150 children sang the final victory song of Brundibár. Weissberger said she was overwhelmed with joy knowing that today’s children are educated about the Holocaust through the opera, which has resonated so profoundly throughout the decades. It’s moments like these, moments of innocence, that Weissberger treasures most. It’s a legacy that she says, needs to survive for generations to come.

Grandmother Ela Stein Weissberger is an extraordinary beacon of hope – a stalwart of courage. And today, May 2, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council and the rest of the world commemorate and honor the millions of victims who lost their lives in the most devastating genocide mankind has ever known. The day also pays homage to those who withstood the odds and survived the horrors of the Holocaust. This 78-year-old exemplifies pure triumph of good over evil.

Grandparents.com spoke to her about her role as a Holocaust survivor, an ambassador of remembrance, and as a grandmother.

Grandparents.com: What propels you to travel and tell people – especially children – your story?

Ela Stein Weissberger: I want to speak for the children who died; I ask people to remember my friends. By doing this, they stay alive in our hearts and minds. I’m the bridge between today’s children and generations to come. And if we, as survivors, keep talking, we’ll be heard. We can’t keep it silent – it’s a part of our bodies.

GP: At what age do you deem it appropriate for children to learn about the Holocaust?

ESW: It’s amazing to me how young children all over the world know about the Holocaust. They’re aware. They’re sensitive to what happened. Children learn about the Holocaust in school – in history class, or in English class reading about Anne Frank. I can’t say what age they should be, but if taught in the way of a story, children – even little ones – will understand. I remember I once saw my friend Tovah Feldshuh [the award-winning stage and film actress] give a powerful reading on the subject to a young audience. I’ll never forget the emotions that filled the room. Children sense sadness and pain; they empathize.

GP: When were your grandchildren told about the Holocaust? How did they react that their grandmother was a survivor?

ESW: They learned at a young age from their parents, in school, and in Hebrew school. I’m a storyteller, and it’s a part of my life to share my experiences. I explained to them that I was one of the people kept alive, and as such, my younger grandchildren think I’m special. The ones who weren’t as fortunate as I shouldn’t be forgotten, and I tell my grandchildren this.

GP: How do you cope with the memories and make your life positive to your grandchildren?

ESW: I still get together with my survivor friends, who are also grandparents. We remember together and cry. But we want to be strong and, most importantly, we don’t want to scare little children. It’s about educating them on what happened. For me, though, it’s that I survived, and I believe that’s the most important thing. It was my destiny. I’ve always been a positive person – even while at Terezín. I was always singing and dancing. It’s my personality and my nature. My friend [who was also at the camp] and I were looking at photos snapped during a performance of Brundibár, and she said to me, “You still stand like that.” I was a show-off! That attitude got me through it all – and I still have a strong attitude on life.

GP: You co-authored The Cat With the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezín (Holiday House, 2006) with Susan Goldman Rubin. How cognizant are your younger grandchildren that this is a memoir – of your story while at Terezín?

ESW: It’s special to them because it’s about me! My granddaughters are still young to fully understand everything. But it’s on each of their bookshelves and they’re able to read about survival and friendships – two themes that can relate to anything in life.

GP: Do you take your grandchildren to Holocaust and Jewish-heritage museums, memorials, and exhibitions?

ESW: I always encouraged my grandsons to go, and they’ve attended some of my appearances. They’re very interested in their heritage and Jewish traditions. My granddaughters [are] slowly learning more and more about their religion.

GP: Do you help strengthen the Jewish faith with your grandchildren?

ESW: Our family likes to celebrate the holidays together. But it’s more about being together – learning, sharing, and creating memories. My late husband and grandsons would make challah bread together, and that’s a wonderful memory.

GP: Do you see your grandchildren often? How do you stay in touch with them?

ESW: I don’t see them often enough! Since they live in North Carolina and Florida, we stay in touch over the telephone. When I do see them, there’s a lot of talking and laughing. The girls and I like to bake my favorite sweet: Linzer tarts. We also love to sing karaoke – especially songs of the Beatles and ’60s and ’70s music.

GP: What is most important to you in life?

ESW: To be a good person. To listen. To respect one another. We must remember that we are the same soul, the same heart. There is no need to divide ourselves. It’s also important to me that I’m surrounded by good people, and I can’t stress that enough to everyone.

GP: What do you think the best advice is for your grandchildren? For the grandchildren of today? What words of wisdom do you implore?

ESW: I believe that we all must be productive people. I know I don’t want to stop working, learning…. I want to be a role model because of this. Education is so very important. The children of today must have an idea of what’s going on in this world. It’s scary – war – but it must be realized because it’s tearing us [as a world] apart. The coming generation must think about what was and is being destroyed for no reason. The Holocaust is an example of destruction. The best wisdom I can give is that life is short and you have to savor the good times. It’s that simple.

Source: Grandparents

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