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Congratulations to Sam Rubens (KSU ’94), adjunct professor in the College of Public Health. This summer, his program received an award from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) as a 2021 Best Model Practice for the work on “Managing Asthma Triggers at Home” (MATH). Nationwide, only six awards were presented. “It was an honor to be selected,” said Rubens.

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Working full-time as the administrator of the Akron Regional Air Quality Management District, a service of Summit County Public Health, Mr. Rubens identified that asthma is “a big issue for the community – particularly as it affects children. The Akron area is very high on the national list of cases and the hospitalization rate is unacceptable.”

To tackle the high-risk asthmatic problem head-on, Summit County Public Health partnered with Akron Children’s Hospital to achieve the following goals:

1. Work with Akron Children’s Hospital to identify children with high-risk asthma;
2. Assist the families of those children with identifying and reducing or eliminating asthma triggers in the home;
3. Provide the home with the necessary equipment to make it asthma safe;
4. Greatly reduce hospital utilization due to asthma incidents.

During the two years of the MATH program, 89 clients were assisted. The requirements for inclusion in the program were that the child had to be between the ages of 4 – 18 years old, a patient at Akron Children’s Hospital, and a resident of Summit, Portage, or Medina counties.  “To create an asthma safe home, we were able to provide each family a HEPA vacuum and filter unit, bed & pillow bags, a spacer (inhaler) for child to breathe in medicine, a dehumidifier for damp areas in the home, a carbon monoxide detector, and four furnace filters. The results have been dramatic with research showing a 52% decline in hospitalizations,” stated Rubens.

What are the next steps? “We will work with schools, the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority, and Medicaid to educate and equip parents to identify and eliminate the asthma triggers at home,” said Rubens.  “There is a significant trickle effect, or social cost, when a child is hospitalized, or re-admitted. Work and school are interrupted. However, with the synergistic effect of the two organizations working together to curb high-risk asthma at home, I believe we’ll continue to make great strides,” continued Rubens.

In addition to the NACCHO award, Rubens was just selected by the Department of State as one of only 60 people to work with the agency as an air quality fellow. He will serve as a technical expert to embassies around the world, providing air quality data analysis, research, and technical support as an air quality expert.

Congratulations on these well-deserved honors.