Reduce dust mites for the kids  

Dust mite allergy appears to be the most important reason for the increasing rate of asthma in children. As new houses become more and more air-tight, amounts of dust mite become higher and higher. Studies from several parts of the world have shown that the larger the amount of dust mite in the home (especially the child's bedroom), the higher the risk of dust mite allergy in children, and the greater the risk of developing asthma.

The Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa offers this list of things you can do to reduce the amount of dust mites in your home :

• Plastic-covered mattresses (the kinds used for cribs and toddler's beds) are ideal for reducing dust mite in your child's crib or bed - the most important source of dust mite for small children.

You should also :

• remove the bed sheets weekly,
• damp wipe the plastic mattress,
• and wash the bed sheets.

Also :

• Blankets should be washed monthly.
• When your child moves to a regular mattress, try encasing it in dust mite-proof covers from a medical supply store.
• Have a hard wood floor in the child's bedroom.
• Keep the household humidity level at 50 per cent or less.

For more information about asthma, visit HealthyOntario.

CAMBRIDGE (April 2004) - The McGuinty government is improving people's access to front-line health care by funding a pilot project to bring together family physicians, pharmacists and nurse practitioners under one roof, Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman announced.

The $229,000 pilot project is a collaboration between the Faculties of Pharmacy and Medicine at the University of Toronto, the Grandview Medical Centre and Beveridge and Brown Pharmacy in Cambridge and the Primary Care Network in Paris, Ontario. The project involves two pharmacists working with 19 doctors and two nurse practitioners. Project partners also include the Ontario Pharmacists Association and the Ontario College of Family Physicians.

The project is one of 45 new primary care initiatives being launched across the province at a cost of $39.2 million. The funding is from the federal Primary Health Care Transition Fund, which helps provincial and territorial governments strengthen primary care services. Ontario's portion of this fund is $213 million.

"Teams, like this one in Cambridge, are another example of how we are transforming front-line health care across Ontario," Smitherman said.

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