Angelides promises help with asthma

Gubernatorial hopeful stops in Fresno, speaks to air quality, health.

Published online on Thursday, Sep. 28, 2006

Originally published in The Fresno Bee and on FresnoBee.com on July 28, 2006.

California can do a better job improving air quality to help children with asthma, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, the Democratic candidate for governor, said Thursday at a campaign stop in Fresno.

The epidemic of asthma is negatively affecting children, families and the state, Angelides said. Asthma results in 160,000 hospital visits by children and costs the state $1.3 billion yearly, he said.

Angelides pledged to cut in half the number of emergency room and hospital visits by asthmatics in the next decade.

"We're going to have to make progress, and we're going to have to make a difference," he said.

But spokesmen for Gov. Schwarzenegger said Angelides' proposals would be costly to taxpayers.

Fresno was the first stop Angelides made in the San Joaquin Valley before heading to Merced, Atwater, Modesto and Stockton.

Before he took the microphone at the University of California Merced Center on Shaw Avenue, community members outlined the toll air pollution takes in the Valley.

The Central Valley is one of the dirtiest air basins in the country. And one in six children in the Fresno area suffers from asthma.

Dirty air costs each Valley resident $1,000 a year in medical bills, lost time on jobs, school absences and premature deaths, said clean-air advocate Carolina Simunovic of Fresno Metro Ministry.

Robin Blake of Fresno said her daughter cannot complete a soccer game without becoming short of breath.

She makes sure her daughter carries asthma medicine for emergencies, Blake said. "But one of the things we should not have to worry about protecting [our children] from is the air that we breathe."

And Kevin Hamilton, a Fresno respiratory therapist, said one-third of the children he sees have no health insurance.

"I cannot think of any priority higher than the health care of the children I see on a daily basis," he said.

Angelides told the three: "I'm not a miracle worker, but I'm going to try my hardest" to improve air quality and reduce asthma rates.

He criticized Schwarzenegger for ignoring health-care problems in the state and for siding with big insurance and tobacco companies on health issues.

Angelides outlined a six-point plan he said would address air quality concerns and help children with asthma.

The actions include:

Support of measures like the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District fees on developers to reduce sprawl and the smog caused by it.

Pushing for more asthma research and prevention programs.

Expansion of health insurance coverage for all children.

Regulations to ensure insurance companies provide treatment for children with asthma.

Matt David, deputy communications director for Schwarzenegger, said Angelides "was silent when the governor promoted the Breathe Easier campaign, which seeks to remove 15,000 of the dirtiest cars and buses every year off our highways."

Pete Mehas, the statewide education chairman for Schwarzenegger and the retiring Fresno County schools superintendent, called Angelides' plan one of "tax and spend."

Said Mehas: "We'd all love for everyone to have all these benefits but who ultimately is going to pay for this?"

The Rev. Walt Parry, executive director of Fresno Metro Ministry, listened to Angelides at the UC Merced Center. He hopes both Angelides and Schwarzenegger will work to clean the air in the central San Joaquin Valley.

"It's a major issue that continues to drain the health of all the people who live in the Valley," he said. "And we cannot wait years to stop that damage."

The reporter can be reached at banderson@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6310.