STUDENTS BREATHE EASIER : SCHOOL GROUP HELPS KIDS WITH ASTHMA.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

For Joe Reinhold, it's fresh flowers. Running does it to Shari Riley.

Garrett Steffen isn't really sure what sets off his asthma, but he can expect a future homework assignment to change that.

Joe, Shari and Garrett are part of a pilot program at Newhall Elementary School to teach children to manage their asthma - the leading cause of school absences.

The goal of the Open Airways for Schools program is to teach youngsters to understand their illness and to practice preventive techniques to avoid asthma attacks.

``We can do anything anyone else can do, only we have to think about it first,'' said program leader Sue Feldman, a registered nurse and mother of two Newhall students.

Open Airways is sponsored by the American Lung Association and Cigna HealthCare Systems to teach youngsters about the disease, its symptoms and its treatments. More importantly, it teaches asthmatics that their illness is no cause for embarrassment and that dealing with it in a straightforward manner can lessen related problems and even increase future health, Feldman said.

Feldman and 10 other parents who are nurses have volunteered to teach the four-week class if the pilot program is successful, said Newhall School District nurse Gail Winter. Winter said she hopes Open Airways will be offered in the district's seven elementary schools next year.

Winter estimated that two to three children in an average classroom have asthma, which the Lung Association says is the leading cause of absences among elementary schoolchildren.

The class meets informally in the school library. The first session began with introductions followed by a brief explanation of the respiratory system. Feldman described a normal lung, then illustrated the asthmatic lung by having the class blow through standard plastic straws and feel the air flow at the other end.

``Now pinch the straw and blow,'' she said. ``That's what happens when you have an asthmatic episode. You have to breathe that much harder to get the air out.''

Student Richie Maldonado explained how it feels when the muscles around the bronchial tubes trap air and make it hard to breathe.

Feldman urged the children to recognize what triggers shortness of breath and wheezing that can be forerunners of an asthma attack - or an episode, as she calls it. She showed the youngsters a breathing exercise and explained the need to inhale medication before their symptoms peak.

Preventive techniques, she said, will allow students to keep up with their friends.

``Sitting out should not be an option,'' she said when one child suggested avoiding physical-education runs.

Feldman said she was heartened as the six students filed into the campus library after school for the first class and openly talked with one another about their asthma.

``Did you hear them?'' she asked Winter. ``They said, `I didn't know you have asthma,' and they were talking about their inhalers. I think that's great.''

Garrett's mother, Stephanie Steffen, stayed for the parent session afterward.

``There was a lot of information. It taught me some things,'' Steffen said. ``Garrett never had a chronic problem, but I'm glad he had this chance to learn more. I think it should be continued for all the children who need it.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Sue Feldman, a registered nurse, talks to children a t Newhall Elementary School about asthma.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News