This post is sponsored by Breathe Smart, the opinions, as you will see, are very much my own.
I heard, “hey Mrs. Moassessi, look over here.” A smiling 11-year-old boy with a messy mop of dark hair and bright shiny eyes was waiving his asthma inhaler in the air at a local outdoor street fair. Bursting with pride, he was showing off that he was carrying his asthma inhaler. My heart melted as I waved back, gave a thumbs-up as I shouted, “great job”! My own asthmatic kids gave me that, “Oh Mom, you’re such a dork” look, but I didn’t care.
Asthma kills. Asthma is the number reason for missed school days, yet, every single day, pre-teens and teens forget to take their maintenance medications and carry their rescue inhaler placing them at great risk for a dangerous asthma attack. Stigma, reaching for independence and thinking since they feel good their medications are not needed are a few reasons why 55% of this age group are not adhering to proper asthma management protocol!
My little asthma inhaler-wielding friend was my former American Lung Association Open Airways for Schools student. Kids need to be capable to self-manage their asthma, period. We can’t be at their side 24/7 as we raise young adults. But, here’s the tricky part: we can barely get our teens to remember to pick up their socks. How do we bridge the gap of letting them dabble in independence while avoiding a terrifying emergency room run?
Enter BreatheSmart. An innovative tool to empower the conversation between us parents and our asthmatic kids. This visually pleasing asthma management system uses technology (an app) and a special “HeroTracker” sensor which is attached to an inhaler. Kids log symptoms, triggers, receive reminders to take meds, track maintenance, and rescue inhaler usage and more. The best part is that parents can discreetly monitor this data remotely via the app.
Back in the day, I kept a handwritten asthma journal. It worked, killed a few trees and was invaluable when I met with our doctor. But there is no way my high school and college student aged children will use a journal. All my kids hear these days is my nagging voice, “did you take your puffer, how are you feeling, are you paying attention?”
I was pleasantly surprised when Cohero Health reached out to me to check out their savvy BreathSmart solution. It took a nano-second for me to decide to test out BreatheSmart. We’re checking out colleges and golfing right now and golfing in very high damp and mold areas. My kids will monitor symptoms and triggers as they arise, which they will base on history. I suspect that gathering this asthma information will play a role in their college evaluations.
I’ll report back with our thoughts about BreatheSmart. I’m excited as I expect this tool to wrap fun, powerful and important into one critical and easy to use asthma health management tool.
For more information about Cohero Health and the BreatheSmart tool visit them at their website: https://coherohealth.com/BreatheSmart/ Or follow them on Twitter and Facebook to learn more!
Please note: BreatheSmart is currently available in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post. Being who I am, I only work with brands and people I wholeheartedly believe will make our world better. I’m far too passionate and opinionated to do otherwise. So, do know what I write is exactly what I feel and believe in.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..