KRS 158.830: Legislative findings -- Construction of KRS 158.830 to 158.836.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky finds that:

(1) Asthma is the seventh -most prevalent chronic health condition in the United States

and is the leading serious chronic illness of children;

(2) Asthma is the third -ranking cause of hospita lization among children under age

fifteen (15) and accounts for almost one (1) in six (6) of all pediatric emergency

room visits;

(3) Approximately two hundred fifty thousand (250,000) Kentuckians suffer from

asthma, including over sixty thousand (60,000) children;

(4) Nationally more than five thousand four hundred (5,400) individuals die from

asthma each year;

(5) Asthma is the number -one cause of school absences attributed to chronic

conditions;

(6) Asthma is manageable with treatment and medications;

(7) Physicians and other health care practitioners instruct children with asthma in the

proper use of asthma medications; and

(8) KRS 158.830 to 158.836 shall be construed to provide unobstructed access to

asthma medications for elementary and secondary school students with asthma.