About the Centre

CAAEC

The Children’s Allergy & Asthma Education Centre (CAAEC) is a program of the Department of Pediatrics and Child Heath at the Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg and resides within the Thompson Children’s Allergy and Asthma Centre. The CAAEC provides food allergy and asthma education to children and their families and develops and assesses new strategies for education. Allergy and asthma education is provided by Certified Asthma Educators. The CAAEC accepts referrals from physicians and other health professionals for families who require asthma and/or allergy education.

All children who require hospital admission for asthma and their families will be referred to the CAAEC and contacted by an asthma educator, usually while the child is still in hospital. Children seen in the emergency room at the Children’s Hospital for asthma will also be contacted.


We provide one on one asthma teaching, but our emphasis remains on small group education offered for parents of children 3-6 years old, for children 7-11 years old and their parents, and for adolescents. Individual counseling will be considered if there is a special need and an educator is available. The asthma information on this website is based on pamphlets developed by staff and allergists at the CAAEC.

 

The CAAEC began as a demonstration project in 1997 supported by Manitoba Health, the Children's Hospital Foundation and industry. The goal was to increase access to effective asthma education for families in Manitoba. Between 1997 and 2000, the Winnipeg component of the program focused on delivering small group asthma education to the families of children 3-16 years old who visited the emergency room for asthma care. The program demonstrated that families who attended asthma education classes visited the emergency room significantly fewer times following education than families who did not attend classes. There was less time lost from work by parents of the children who received education and their quality of life also improved.

 

Over the past decade, food allergies have increased and have become a growing concern, especially when combined with asthma. Food allergies have a huge impact on families’ lives requiring education to prevent and treat reactions. In 2011, the CAAEC developed the Family Food Allergy Education Program to educate families and to assist them in finding a balance between food allergy risks and safety measures. With education, all children with food allergies can lead a healthy life. The CAAEC currently offers two separate food allergy education programs, a program for parents with children less than 7 years of age and a newly developed school age program for children 7 – 11 years old and their parent(s). These two programs are offered at the CAAEC at no cost. Click here to locate the current class schedule.

 

Mission Statement

The mission of the Thompson Children’s Allergy & Asthma Education Centre is to enhance the health and well being of children & families living with allergy & asthma.  We are committed to promoting awareness of allergy & asthma and their appropriate management and to excellence in providing care and education to children, families, health care professionals and the community.