I was in Tesco choosing a birthday card for my friend when I heard a child singing the alphabet beside me: ABC..DEFG.. HIJKLM⌠And I thought, maybe we should share health knowledge this way, through memorable rhymes, stories and games.
Having asthma as a child can affect your life chances. Children may feel stigma, they may feel like victims and they may lack confidence. They may miss school and do less well educationally. I know, because I was that child.
Families also express anxiety that they don't always know how to help. They lose sleep, they miss work and they can be over-protective. Schools and community groups likewise worry about their children with asthma, with child asthma deaths still occurring in the community.
I started something I now call âBreathChampsâ with about 30 parents and children at a community Halloween Party in a challenging part of Salford. I reckoned if it worked there it would work anywhere. I had a wolf glove puppet and sang âWhoâs Afraid of the Big Bad Wolfâ at the top of my voice. And the children joined in and helped the wolf (who had asthma) when he couldn't blow down the house of straw for coughing. Most either had, or knew a child with asthma and correctly identified that he needed a blue inhaler to stop him coughing. Children fell over themselves to give the wolf his inhaler correctly through a spacer, in front of everyone.
Then we added the missing preventer when he couldn't blow down the house of sticks â more inhaler technique practice followed. And then he had an acute asthma attack after inhaling smoke when climbing down the chimney in the house of bricks. The parents and children learned that they needed to call an ambulance and give the Big Bad Wolf ten puffs of reliever inhaler, whilst sitting him up and keeping him calm.
I see children's asthma as a family and community issue, where people can learn from each other not just from doctors or nurses, in fun ways. BreathChamps' ideas have been co-produced with families and communities, so tools make sense to them. Clinical appointments, especially group consultations, become 'asthma parties'. Whole schools learn in their assemblies how 9-year-old Captain Fearless defeats the Wheeze Monster using just her inhalers, her spacer and her magic goggles. There is plenty of dressing up and laughter. Children with asthma who become the heroes of the story, not the victims, will grow up with less fear and anxiety and achieve more.
My aim is for BreathChamps to become a social movement, where stories are passed around and in so doing our children are kept safe by the whole community. Community leaders such as Brown Owls, mums and tots leaders, librarians and teaching assistants become part of our extended team. If you arenât a natural performer, don't worry because these people are â so share a poem and a game with them.
The BreathChamps philosophy can be replicated in other clinical areas. It is about giving away our knowledge to communities in ways they will remember, enjoy and understand. People can add in their own tips and tricks, so we value their expertise as patients and carers.
If you want to learn my stories and share my games please get in touch by sending me a message or emailing heather.henry@brightnessmanagement.org.uk. By September I will be doing workshops in Greater Manchester and Morecambe Bay and online training will also be available from this autumn.
