Natalie Terens

A trip to the emergency room for an asthma attack is unnerving; when it’s your child having the attack, it’s downright scary. And if it happens frequently, the ER is probably not the best solution.

The ER doctor can treat symptoms and prescribe medications — but that may not address the reason for frequent asthma episodes.

The underlying drivers of poor health outcomes in Trenton are many, varied, and related to poverty, structural racism, behavioral health, childhood trauma, immigration status and other variables that a traditional medical entity is ill-equipped to address.

In Trenton, 10.8 percent of adults have asthma, consistently higher than the state’s rate of 8.2 percent (2016). Trenton residents visit emergency rooms and are hospitalized for asthma-related issues at twice the rate of Mercer County as a whole.

The cause for frequent asthma attacks often is poor housing conditions with dust and mold, or living near major highways with poor air quality, conditions considered beyond the purview of clinicians. Until now.