New York State Department of Health Recognizes National Healthy Lung Month
Department Encourages Residents to Take Preventative Measures to Keep Their Lungs Healthy
Department Highlights Progress as State Recognizes National Healthy Lung Month
ALBANY, N.Y. (October 22, 2024) - The New York State Department of Health recognizes National Healthy Lung Month by increasing awareness and education about good lung health and promoting successful initiatives to enhance lung health among New Yorkers.
"We often take for granted the simple gift of enjoying a breath of clean air," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. "We encourage New Yorkers to protect their lungs by taking important measures such as participating in physical activities, refraining from smoking, improving indoor ventilation and getting immunized against respiratory diseases such as the flu, RSV and COVID."
The Department has created several successful programs and initiatives that aim to improve the lung health of New Yorkers.
The New York State Children's Asthma Initiative, a joint effort of the Department and the American Lung Association, engages strategic partners to advance evidence-based strategies shown to reduce the burden of childhood asthma, a common chronic lung disease impacting children and their families. With an aim to improve asthma-related health outcomes and quality of life, the Department and Lung Association work in New York's highest asthma burden regions to address health equity by expanding the delivery of guidelines-based asthma care, asthma self-management education, and home-based asthma services in a way that is coordinated across health care, school, home, and community settings. The Initiative also provides education, training, and resources to members of the cross-disciplinary asthma care team and to New Yorkers living with asthma. Additional funding allocated this year will support the New York State Children's Asthma Initiative expansion of workforce development resources to provide education, training and tools to members of the cross-disciplinary asthma care team. Funding will also support widened efforts to engage New York's children living with asthma and their families in accessing home-based asthma services to reduce asthma triggers and improve asthma control.
The New York State Radon Program provides low-cost radon test kits to New Yorkers. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. You can't see, smell, or taste it, but radon can be present at dangerous levels in your home.
The New York State Indoor Air and Health website can help New Yorkers understand and control common indoor air pollutants related to asthma and other respiratory diseases.
The New York State Healthy Neighborhoods Program seeks to reduce the burden of housing-related illness and injury through a holistic, healthy homes approach. The program provides in-home assessments and interventions for asthma, tobacco cessation, indoor air quality, lead, fire safety, and other environmental health hazards. Services are implemented by local health departments in selected counties throughout New York in communities identified as high-risk using housing, health, and socio-economic indicators from census and surveillance data.
The Department's Creating Healthy Schools and Communities program provides funding to 25 regional grantees to increase opportunities for daily physical activity for youth and adults. Grantees work in early child care and education settings, schools, worksites, and community settings to improve policies, practices, and environments for physical activity. Physical activity requires the lungs to work harder to supply the oxygen that muscles need. When done regularly, the lungs and several other organs of the body are strengthened. Grantees also implement community planning and active transportation interventions in municipalities to increase safe and accessible physical activity. Since 2021, grantees have completed over 180 projects throughout the State to improve pedestrian and bike transportation systems.
The New York State School Environmental Health Program is a voluntary program that emphasizes practical steps that schools can take to create healthier learning and working environments for all students and staff across New York State. The program offers key recommendations for improving indoor air in schools. The program recently received a $5 million grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to expand education and training for K-12 school staff on indoor air quality. They have also added capacity to offer technical assistance to schools to help improve indoor air quality and are pilot testing an indoor air monitoring program that they developed for schools. In the past two years, the program has engaged over 750 school personnel around the state on a variety of environmental health topics including indoor air quality through their regional seminars and a statewide conference. They expect to expand these offerings over the next five years.
The New York State Cancer Consortium is a statewide network made up of more than 400 member organizations from the public and private sectors whose missions are aligned with reducing cancer incidence and mortality. Consortium Action Teams come together to address some of New York's highest burden of preventable cancers, including lung cancer, colorectal cancer, cancers caused by the human papilloma virus, skin cancer, and health and wellness issues for New York's many cancer survivors. The Consortium Lung Cancer Action Team mobilizes multi-level resources to increase lung cancer screening using guideline-driven, evidence-based strategies. Lung cancer screening is recommended for certain people at higher risk for lung cancer and may help to find lung cancer earlier when treatment may be more successful. The Department is an active member of the Consortium facilitating the development and evaluation of the New York State Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan.
The Department's Tobacco Control Program addresses the impact of commercial tobacco use on lung health through comprehensive prevention and cessation programs. Tobacco use is a leading cause of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Smoking cessation improves lung health. For help with quitting, including counseling and medication, New Yorkers are encouraged to talk to their healthcare providers. For information on how to quit smoking or vaping tobacco or nicotine, the New York State Quitline provides free and confidential services that include information, tools, quit coaching, and support in both English and Spanish. Services are available by calling 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487), texting (716) 309-4688, or visiting www.nysmokefree.com, for information, to chat online with a Quit Coach, or to sign up for Learn2QuitNY, a six-week, step-by-step text messaging program to build the skills you need to quit any tobacco product. In 2023, the Quitline provided services to more than 30,000 adults in New York who use tobacco.
New York State Tobacco Control Program is also a national leader in tobacco control policies that help protect youth from deadly nicotine addiction and protect New Yorkers from exposure to dangerous second hand smoke.
The Department encourages New Yorkers to follow these practices for good lung health:
- Prevent respiratory illnesses by consistent hand washing, avoiding crowded places, and staying up to date on vaccinations.
- Get vaccinated with flu and COVID shots.
- Get the RSV vaccine if 60 years of age and older.
- Engage in physical activity on a regular basis.
- Refrain from smoking or vaping.
- Minimize exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants.
- Visit doctors regularly for checkups, screenings, and vaccinations.
- Follow Air Quality Alerts to know when outdoor air pollutants are expected to be unhealthy.
- Reduce exposure to harmful chemicals. Stay out of rooms until the paint dries and new furniture and building materials become odor-free.
More information on asthma can be found here.
More information about the Creating Healthy Schools and Communities initiative can be found here.
More information about the New York State School Environmental Health Program is found here.
More information about reducing radon in homes is found here.
More information about indoor air and health is found here.
