RAMP - Regional Asthma Management and Prevention

08/26/2025

We are excited to announce RAMP’s newly updated California Asthma Home Visiting Program Directory! First launched in 2022, we created the Directory to showcase the strength and breadth of California’s asthma home visiting network and to connect Medi-Cal managed care organizations and other stakeholders with local programs. Since then, we have regularly updated the Directory to reflect the growth and changes in Asthma Home Visiting.

The 2025 edition features more than 30 programs across 39 counties, including details on services offered, eligibility criteria, service areas, and contact information. Two versions of the directory are available: by county and by organization.

We hope this resource strengthens connections, supports referrals, and highlights the important work being done across California to improve asthma care and outcomes.

Asthma Home Visiting Directory In 2022, RAMP, in collaboration with partners in the field, developed the first-of-its-kind public directory of asthma home

07/30/2025

RAMP is pleased to join members of the California Alliance for Children’s Environmental Health (CACEH), a project of Children Now, as a sponsor of their Children’s Environmental Health Advocacy Day on August 19th in Sacramento. Join children’s environmental health advocates from across the state to educate lawmakers and advocate for bills that will meaningfully impact children’s environmental health by registering to attend through the link below.

Join us to advocate for children's environmental health! Every child deserves a safe and clean world to play, learn, and grow up in. Working together, we can win reforms to protect our kids from toxic chemicals, pollutants and unsafe products. This legislative session in California, there are a numb...

07/24/2025

Bay Area Equity Atlas (PolicyLink) released Inequity in the Air, an in-depth analysis examining how air pollution from nearby oil refineries, power plants, and industrial facilities is disproportionately impacting the health of low-income communities and communities of color.

In the report, Anne Kelsey Lamb, Director of RAMP, highlights a clear link between proximity to polluting sites and increased severity of asthma symptoms, often leading to hospitalization. While asthma affects many Californians, the burden of pollution exposure and hospitalization falls disproportionately along racial and socioeconomic lines.

Featuring interactive maps, personal stories from Richmond residents near the Chevron Refinery, and data from the California Air Resources Board, the report outlines urgent policy recommendations to advance environmental justice and health equity in the region.

Read the Analysis:

Inequity in the Air An Analysis of Emitting Facilities and Emissions in the Bay Area See a condensed version of this analysis. Display the larger version of this analysis.

05/21/2025

May is and at RAMP, we are proud to partner with the National Center for Healthy Housing to release a new resource, Sustainable Financing for Home-Based Asthma Services: Snapshots of Innovation and Progress Across the Country.

Despite robust evidence about the impact of home-based services, asthma home visiting programs historically have had to rely on unstable grant funding to provide services. But in recent years, that pattern has begun to shift, and we have seen progress in communities and states across the country in building systems for sustainable asthma home visiting services.

While the current political and funding landscape may temporarily slow our collective process, it’s a critical time to learn from others’ successes and do everything we can to maintain momentum across the country. The importance of documenting and sharing progress cannot be overstated.

As you’ll see from the report’s “snapshots,” building systems to expand and sustain access to home-based asthma services can take a long time, and there are many pathways for achieving similar outcomes. As such, progress can look different from one place to the next. This scan provides an overview of what progress and pathways might look like.

It features success stories from across the country, highlighting both state Medicaid policy advances, and stories about local partnerships, pilot programs, and other innovations that create a groundswell for statewide change; all serving as models for new community action. We hope that you will find this resource useful and inspiring. We are certainly inspired by the persistence and commitment of communities and states across the country working toward the shared goal of improving asthma outcomes.

Have a success story we didn’t include? We’d love to work with you to make sure that your important work is documented, to inspire others and to provide a roadmap for those who may build on this work now or in the future. Reach out to us at ta@rampasthma.org

https://rampasthma.org/blog/sustainable-financing-for-home-based-asthma-services-snapshots-of-innovation-and-progress-across-the-country/

04/22/2025

Pests like rodents and cockroaches are common asthma triggers that need to be addressed. But the conventional approaches of addressing pests by spraying pesticides also make asthma worse and can contribute to a range of other health problems. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a healthier, more sustainable approach to pest management.

In California, Medi-Cal’s Community Supports Asthma Remediation program covers IPM services and supplies for eligible individuals. With support from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation and in partnership with the UC ANR Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, RAMP is embarking on a project to support Medi-Cal managed care plans and Asthma Remediation programs in effectively integrating IPM into their asthma home visiting programs.

As a first step, we recently hosted a webinar for program managers, covering key IPM principles, how to connect home asthma trigger assessments to appropriate IPM services and supplies, and practical tips for working with both renters and homeowners. It also offered guidance on landlord-tenant interactions and selecting qualified IPM providers. You can view the recording here and access the slides here.

Our next step is to host a training for asthma home visitors that will focus on identifying signs of pests, educating clients about pest prevention, and selecting supplies to help with the process. To learn more about this upcoming training on June 3rd, reach out to us.

We hope these resources will help asthma programs not just in California, but also across the country.

Recording: https://vimeo.com/1070055211?share=copy

Slides:https://rampasthma.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/IPM-training-for-MCOs-and-AR-managers-2025.pdf

This is "GMT20250327-160206_Recording_1920x1080" by RAMP Asthma on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

04/01/2025

A 2025 study released in PubMed highlights the significant burden severe asthma places on patients, emphasizing overlooked needs beyond physical symptoms. It examines four key issues: fatigue, sleep disturbances, physical inactivity, and reduced work productivity. Fatigue affects up to 90% of patients, while sleep disturbances impact 70-75%, both impairing daily function and quality of life. Physical inactivity both results from and contributes to poor asthma control, whereas interventions promoting activity improve outcomes. Work productivity loss is closely tied to asthma severity, with biological therapies potentially mitigating its effects. The review calls for further research on both pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions, such as pulmonary rehabilitation and behavioral therapies, to enhance patient well-being.

A 2025 study released in PubMed highlights the significant burden severe asthma places on patients, emphasizing overlooked needs beyond physical symptoms.

03/24/2025

Health and public health professionals and advocates in California are invited to attend an upcoming Health Professionals for Clean Air and Climate Action meeting. Hosted by one of RAMP’s longtime partners, the American Lung Association (ALA), these convenings are a great venue to learn more about and get involved in clean air and climate advocacy.

At the next meeting, on Wednesday, April 2nd from noon – 1:00 PM PT, ALA staff will share a preview of the Lung Association’s 2025 "State of the Air" report, provide a brief overview of a new ALA report focused on industrial heat, and share advocacy updates and opportunities at the state and federal level.

Registration is now open; the meeting will be virtual on Teams.

Health and public health professionals and advocates in California are invited to attend an upcoming Health Professionals for Clean Air and Climate Action

02/21/2025

We are pleased to share an updated version of RAMP’s Asthma Action Plan. The most recent update includes:

Adjustments to the medication instructions to accommodate Single Maintenance and Reliever Therapy (SMART)

An updated, more comprehensive list of asthma triggers that includes images

Information about asthma home visiting services for patients with poorly controlled asthma

RAMP has provided free Asthma Action Plans in multiple languages for over two decades. We work with our clinical partners to update the Asthma Action Plans periodically to ensure that they are consistent with clinical guidelines and practice.

We are currently piloting the updated version in English only. Please take a look, use it with your patients, and let us know if you have feedback by emailing RAMP’s Director, Anne Kelsey Lamb. Later, we’ll translate the updated version into additional languages.

Asthma Action Plans RAMP has an updated Asthma Action Plan! Click here to view and print the updated Asthma Action Plan in English. Read on to learn more

10/10/2024

Asthma is greatly influenced by where someone lives. People who have affordable and accessible health care, clean air, and economic stability have a greater chance of managing and controlling their asthma. AAFA’s Asthma Capitals™ Report ranks the largest 100 cities in the continental US by how challenging they are to live in when you have asthma. AAFA publishes this report to show the nationwide burden of asthma. It is a call to action to help the 28 million people in the US with asthma.

In 2024, the top 10 asthma capitals are:
1. Allentown, PA
2. Rochester, NY
3. Detroit, MI
4. Springfield, MA
5. Philadelphia, PA
6. Cleveland, OH
7. Lakeland, FL
8. Baltimore, MD
9. Charleston, SC
10. Providence, RI

The Asthma Capitals report ranking is based on three outcomes: asthma prevalence, asthma-related emergency room visits, and asthma-related deaths. The report also analyzes risk factors that can influence asthma outcomes: poverty, air quality, access to specialist medical care, pollen allergy, medicine use, to***co policies, and lack of health insurance.

Click below to see the full ranking list.

AAFA ranks cities by asthma outcomes and analyzes risk factors that influence asthma prevalence, ER visits, and asthma fatalities.

10/08/2024

Tracking California has released a new data tool that specifically allows you to search for environmental and health topics and interact with data in the form of maps, charts, time trends, and tables in California. When searching by the topic area of asthma, there is data on:

- Asthma Emergency Department Visits
- Asthma Hospitalizations
- Current Asthma Prevalence
- Lifetime Asthma Prevalence
- Asthma Deaths
- Insurers for Asthma Emergency Department Visits
- Insurers for Asthma Hospitalizations

The data can be separated by a multitude of factors including gender/sex, age, race/ethnicity, geography, and more.

Other topics areas encompassed in Tracking California include air quality, birth defects, cancer, carbon monoxide poisoning, childhood lead poisoning, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), health attacks, heat-related illness, and maternal and infant health.

Tracking California is a program of the Public Health Institute, in partnership with the California Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program.

10/04/2024

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting about 1 in every 10 students. As children are returning to school, parents need to be aware of the signs of asthma and how to work effectively with healthcare providers to manage their child’s asthma.

The NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute created an Asthma in Kids Infographic that shares this important information in addition to other asthma-related resources and fact sheets throughout their website.

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting some groups of people more than others. This infographic helps parents know the signs of asthm

09/20/2024

The Indoor Air Quality workgroup at the California Healthy Housing Coalition is hosting its next webinar on pest prevention for tenant-serving organizations on September 24, 2024, at 10:00 AM Pacific. Dr. Andrew Sutherland, an Urban Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Advisor for the San Francisco Bay Area, will provide an overview of IPM focusing on pest prevention strategies tenants can use to keep pests out of their units in addition to what tenants can ask their landlords to do to improve pest prevention at the property.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: CHHC IAQ Webinar: Pest Prevention for Tenants. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.