Thomas Foley: “today is Asthma Awareness Day, and as a former suffering asthmatic, I want to commend this Congress for the work and…”

“today is Asthma Awareness Day, and as a former suffering asthmatic, I want to commend this Congress for the work and research efforts that have been undertaken by the National Institutes of Health. I want to give my colleagues a few of the statistics that are startling: 4.8 million children have asthma; 10.6 million people have experienced an asthma attack or episode in the past 12 months; 3.9 million asthma-related outpatient visits to private physicians; and another 2 million asthma-related visits to emergency departments. Over 12,288 people died of asthma-related symptoms. The cost, of course, is staggering, $12.7 billion. Missed school days, 10.1 million annually, and missed work days, over 3 million. Much work needs to be done, but the first most important work is to continue to promote asthma awareness and research, hopefully to bring a breath of life to young children and cure this disease.”