Adelaide teen uses chronic asthma condition to help young patients
RUBY Holman has endured the terror of suffocating multiple times — with more than 30 incidents ending in hospital trips. Now, as one in 10 kids suffer from asthma, the veteran patient has come up with a novel way to help them deal with hospitalisation.
TEENAGER Ruby Holman has endured the terror of suffocating multiple times.
“You’re trying to get as much air in as you can and your lungs are moving but you can’t breath – you’re like a fish out of water,” says the 16-year-old chronic asthma sufferer from Adelaide.
“You panic. You’re suffocating.”
Ruby, from Largs Bay, was diagnosed at two years of age and has been admitted to hospital more than 30 times.
She has now come up with a novel way to help young sufferers deal with hospital stays due to the lung condition now affecting one in 10 SA kids.
Her colouring-in story book tracing the admission and treatment of young asthma patient Ella is being distributed to young sufferers at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
“I know how scary it can be,” she says.
“The anxiety and fear of hospitals can actually prevent you from not taking your asthma seriously and potentially presenting too late.”
The WCH has more than 1000 asthma-related cases at its emergency department every year – the highest hospitalisation rate in the nation.
Respiratory specialists are hopeful Ruby’s colouring-in story book, Ella’s First Trip, will help paediatric patients and their loved ones learn more about the symptoms of an asthma attack as well as better preparing them for hospital visits.
“It will help demystify asthma in hospital and help children understand what happens in hospital — from having to receive medication to additional investigation,” WCH head of respiratory medicine Dr Andrew Tai says.
WCH respiratory disease management nurse consultant Kate Roberts-Thomson says it is critically important for children to understand the signs and symptoms of an attack.
“Asthma awareness starts not only through educating parents but also through making sure children understand what their puffers are and what asthma is,” she says.