Mobile Clinic Helps Kids Breathe Easy

Valerie Delatorre only wishes it were her birthday.

Instead, the fifth-grader at Camellia Avenue Elementary School in North Hollywood is testing her lung capacity by trying to blow out 10 brightly burning candles simulated on a computer screen.

Valerie is a patient on the Breathmobile--a first-of-its kind traveling clinic developed in 1994 by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, a national nonprofit health agency. The clinic uses the Breathmobile to test elementary through high school students.

Physicians working in the big white mobile home provide free asthma and allergy testing to 19 Los Angeles Unified School District schools in the San Fernando Valley. Two similar units serve LAUSD schools in the Los Angeles area and a fourth will begin serving the Montebello school district in southeast Los Angeles this fall.

As Valerie blows into a long tube covering her mouth and as the candles start to go out one by one, a computer program draws a graph showing her lung capacity.

“Blow, blow, blow, blow, blow!” said nurse Gloria Wessel, 45, of Glendora. “That’s great! You did it.”

Valerie is tested approximately every six weeks, when the Breathmobile makes one of its regular visits to the North Hollywood school. The unit visits a different LAUSD school four days each week throughout the year.

Children are identified for testing by school nurses and through parent surveys conducted by the foundation’s respiratory therapists.

Many students have already been diagnosed with asthma or allergies--or both--by family doctors. But few see specialists and many don’t receive proper care, according to doctors.

As a result, schoolwork can suffer, according to Dr. Loran Clement, who also said “some kids can miss 30 or 40 days of school a year.”

On a recent day, Clement saw 14 patients. He checked their lung tests, examined their ears and throats and queried them about symptoms. He wrote prescriptions for nasal sprays, inhalers and medications.

Often he sends parents and other relatives--who accompany the students--home with a plastic bag of sample medicines for their children to try. He gets to know the children and their families well on their frequent visits.

He has a friendly way with the children. “I love doing this,” says the 53-year-old Oak Park resident. Clement traded a long career in medical research to work on the Breathmobile. “It’s just a huge extended family here.”

Hugo Trejo is one of Clement’s favorite success stories.

After frequent school absences because of asthma, the 11-year-old won a certificate for 100% attendance from Plummer Elementary School in North Hills after undergoing treatment on the Breathmobile.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation, asthma is the leading cause of school absences. Officials estimate that the program cut absenteeism in participating San Fernando Valley schools by at least 36% last year.

Stories like Hugo’s keep Wessel motivated. The 45-year-old from Glendora traded in a career working in the pediatric emergency room at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center to work on the Breathmobile in 1988, when it began serving the Valley.

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“Going out into the community is a good experience,” she said. “It’s so positive. It makes me feel really good about myself.”

The goal of the Breathmobile is to keep kids out of the emergency room and leading a normal life.

Children often worry they’ll miss out on sports because of the condition. Heavy breathing during any activity--running, shooting basketball or swimming--can bring on an attack and land them in the emergency room.

But Claudia Stanziola, 16, knows better. She has learned to manage her asthma well enough that she’s on the swim team at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

She watched her little sister, Darlene Ceballos, 10, as she was treated for the first time on the Breathmobile.

Darlene huffed and tried hard to blow out the computerized candles. Her tiny body trembled as she heaved air into the tube. She managed to blow six out.

Claudia told her younger sister that as long as she had an inhaler nearby, she could do anything she wanted.

The Breathmobile is funded through private donations and grants. Call (800) 624-0044 for more information, to schedule an appointment or learn about other free activities for asthmatic or children with allergies offered through the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

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