The California Hospital Association (CHA) has named Julie McKown, RRT, AE-C, a respiratory therapist at St. Luke’s, as the winner of their prestigious Ritz E. Heerman Memorial Award for 2005.  Named in honor of the first president of CHA, the award is granted for outstanding contribution to the improvement of patient care in California. 

McKown was selected over seven other candidates who were nominated this year for the award.  The award will be presented at a CHA Board of Directors meeting on Friday, February 3 in Sacramento.

In honoring McKown, the CHA noted the award committee felt she went above and beyond the call of duty to improve the quality of patient care in her community.  McKown was pivotal in developing an innovative program to train emergency response medical teams in the San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) to assist and treat patients with asthma.  Working as a volunteer, she helped the Fire Department’s Division of Training to develop and conduct a program for the Paramedic Asthma Outreach Team so that they would be well equipped to treat the illness and educate patients and their families on the disease.

“It's a great honor to receive this award,” says McKown.  “Increasing awareness of the seriousness of asthma in our communities is very important, and I am grateful to the CHA for recognizing our efforts.  I hope the program we created in partnership with the San Francisco Fire Department's Emergency Services Division will serve as a model for improving access to asthma care and management.  I also hope it will encourage similar collaborations in other California cities."

The SFFD program was developed in response to a growing asthma epidemic in the city that is hitting the children in medically underserved communities the hardest. Within a six-month period in 2002, three children died of asthma in San Francisco.  In 2003, records showed the paramedics responded to close to 280 asthma-related calls in minor children.  These children frequently do not receive the proper diagnosis or treatment and, as a result, may suffer more severe attacks or even die from the disease. Because these patients frequently do not seek medical attention due to financial, language or knowledge barriers, their first encounter with the medical system is when the emergency medical technician (EMT) or paramedics are called to respond to an asthma attack.

In October of 2003, team members learned how to perform airflow and volume measurements, conduct home environmental assessments and educate families about follow-up care and living with asthma.  McKown continues to volunteer her time by providing training, resource materials and ongoing guidance. 

The director of the program, SFFD Capt. Niels Tangherlini, notes, “Her efforts have allowed this innovative program to become a reality. Many lives will be saved, and a great amount of suffering will be diminished because of her efforts.” 

Captain Tangherlini is expecting more paramedics to be trained in 2005-2006 to sustain the efforts of the Paramedic Asthma Outreach Team in San Francisco.

“The results of Julie’s work have clearly improved asthma patient care in San Francisco’s underprivileged and medically underserved populations,” notes St. Luke’s Chief Financial Officer and Director of Operations Jim Strong.  “The development of a program ensuring that personnel have the skills needed in an emergency, as well as the assessment and education tools to improve long-term health, has been a significant benefit to San Francisco’s communities.”

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