The Asthma Program at Riley at IU Health provides advanced, family-centered outpatient and inpatient care for children with asthma that helps them lead more normal, fulfilling lives.
Your child will receive a thorough evaluation from our board certified pulmonologists and allergists. They will work with you and your child's primary care doctor to develop a treatment and follow-up plan that best suits your child’s needs. By controlling and managing asthma symptoms, your child can fully participate in school, sports and all other daily physical activities.
We help you understand your child’s condition and develop treatment plans for acute attacks and long-term maintenance. Our three-step approach to asthma care includes:
1. Assessment. Our review of your child’s past and current asthma condition includes:
- History
- Symptoms
- Physical exam
- Lung function test and allergy testing (if appropriate)
2. Making an asthma plan. We work with you and your child to develop a treatment plan that includes:
- Proper use of asthma medicines, inhalers and spacer devices
- Providing your child the best medicines with the lowest risk of side effects
- Learning the warning signs of asthma attacks and medicine side effects
- Preventing frequent coughing and wheezing
- Maintaining normal activity levels, including sports and after-school activities
- Reducing urgent office visits and hospitalizations
- Developing a daily treatment plan and a plan for when symptoms occur
3. Control. Well-controlled asthma means your child can participate in all physical activities and is not having asthma symptoms more than twice a week. At follow-up visits, we focus on how well your child’s asthma is controlled. If the asthma is not well-controlled, we evaluate:
- Environmental and household triggers
- Need for allergy skin testing
- Related medical conditions
- Change in medicine
As part of our Asthma Program, children who require treatment in our hospital receive care from a multidisciplinary team that includes doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, asthma educators, social workers and case managers.
Our High-Risk Asthma Care Center provides care for children with unique challenges related to asthma management. We adjust medicines as needed to quickly control asthma flare-ups. For children in our program, this intensive team approach helps lower the number of hospital visits.
Conditions & Services
Conditions Treated
Our pediatric specialists provide patient- and family-centered care for most related conditions. The links below provide more specific information about some, but not all, of the conditions that we treat.
Services Offered
We offer a number of different Asthma services. Below are some, but not all, of the services that we provide. If you have a question about a specific service that is not listed here, please contact our program.
Doctors and
Locations
Doctors
Our pulmonary physicians provide expert family-centered care. Learn about the skills and specialties of our pediatric pulmonologists.
Locations
Locations
In addition to our primary hospital location at the Academic Health Center in Indianapolis, IN, we have convenient locations to better serve our communities throughout the state.
Sort through 5 facilities offering Asthma Program care by entering your city or zip below.
Program Forms & Resources
Program Forms & Resources
The Asthma Program at Riley at IU Health provides the following forms for parents, healthcare providers and personnel. We have also curated relevant resources from other websites and provided links with brief descriptions of the information that is available.
Forms
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Relaxation Methods for Children With Asthma (Riley at IU Health)
The doctors at Riley at IU Health share ways to help your child relax during an asthma episode.
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How to Use Asthma Medicines (Riley at IU Health)
This in-depth resource from the doctors at Riley at IU Health provides step-by-step directions for using common asthma medicines.
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Asthma Action Plan (Riley at IU Health)
Learn what an asthma action plan is and how asthma zones relate to your child's asthma action plan.
Related Departments
Related Departments
We provide multispecialty care for a number of conditions. Below are links to our related departments.
Health Professionals
For Health Professionals
The pediatric pulmonologists at Riley at IU Health work with you to provide advanced diagnosis and treatment for your patients. You can refer a patient and learn about our pulmonary research and education programs.
Refer A Patient
Riley at IU Health works with referring physicians in Indiana and beyond.
Refer A PatientResearch
View recent Pulmonology & Respiratory Care research.
Education
As faculty members of the Indiana University School of Medicine, we help train the next generation of pediatric pulmonologists. Our Pediatric Pulmonology Fellowship Program provides post-residency training in an atmosphere of mentorship and collaboration.