12 Days of Christmas: Asthma NZ - helping asthmatics to breathe easier

Tara Gordon with 3-year-old daughter Quinn who suffers from asthma and Bekitmba Maseko from the Asthma Foundation. Photo / Greg Bowker

The Herald is profiling 12 charities awarded $8333 grants from Auckland Airport's Twelve Days of Christmas programme – now in its 13th year. The $100,000 funding comes from generous travellers who donate money at the airport.

The moment her baby Quinn was admitted to hospital with an asthma attack was the scariest of Tara Gordon's life.

"Seeing your child unable to breathe and not being able to help is really, really terrifying," she says.

The mother of four had suspected her daughter was asthmatic after going through the same thing with her older son Cooper, but she says doctors were reluctant to diagnose a child of such a young age.

Things have now improved thanks to prevention medication and advice from a dedicated Asthma NZ nurse educator who regularly visits their family home in Papakura.

"If you end up in hospital, asthma requires a lot of medication and steroids to bring it under control. But if you manage it well using preventers, you don't even need the steroids," says Gordon.

She says nurse Bekitmba Maseko has been able to offer much more personalised, practical guidance in his home visits than a GP could do in a 15-minute appointment.

"He can look at how we're using the medication, explain the research and there's time to ask questions. Your child feels more comfortable because they have a relationship with the person and when you ring, you know who's going to be on the end of the phone."

She says her family have gained a better understanding of how the orange prevention inhaler works differently to the blue Ventolin inhaler.

"My husband and I are both asthmatic too, so we already understood how to use them but not why and what's happening in the body."

The family have also learnt to wash the spacing devices used to administer the medication once a week to get the most effective use from them. Their children have proven to be the best at keeping to the routine of using their preventers twice a day - after breakfast and before bed.

Gordon says her husband had a wake-up call when he learned that unmanaged asthma can cause Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

"He's realised it's not okay to just put up with wheezing because you're used to it – because it could cause really serious damage later on in life. It's motivated him to manage his asthma much better now," she says.

Nurse Maseko says working with the Gordon family helped boost his confidence when he first began working for Asthma NZ.

"Some families take the view that asthma's not really serious, but this family took everything on board. What they didn't understand, they asked me to clarify. When you get people who have an ear to listen, it really makes a difference," he says.

"The prevalence of asthma in New Zealand is shocking yet it's a condition that can easily be managed. Investment in education will save money in hospital visits and lost time at school and work."

Asthma NZ has six nurse educators and two health promotions specialists who deliver the 'Breath Easy Tamariki' programme to 42 high schools across Auckland.

To donate to Asthma NZ: https://www.asthma.org.nz/