Clean Air For Kids is a Great Project for Parent Group or PTA

Your parent group or PTA should start a Clean Air for Kids (CAFK) Project for your school.  Installing classroom air purifiers can have a very positive impact on your students and teachers.  In 3 year double blind studies in 1991, filtering the classroom air in children daycares caused children's sick days to decrease by 55%.  In some Purifan equipped schools, student absenteeism decreased by 61% the first year, teacher sick days dropped by 50% and asthma inhaler use decreased by 70%.   Every year, more and more students show up with a plastic bag of medicines, breathing treatments and inhalers.  The typical classroom is filled with allergens from many sources, and these airborne particulates and toxins can increase allergy and asthma problems, increase respiratory infections and increase the spread of colds, flu and contagious illnesses.  When children do not feel well, or take more medicine this can impact short term memory, increase drowsiness in class, reduce the ability to concentrate and all of these medicines have side effects that can create other health problems. Ten Reasons Cleaner Classroom Air is a Great Fund Raising Project Asthma is the number one chronic illness in children and the number one cause of missed school days. Recent government studies calculated the average cost of a missed school day for a child at $300. When a parent misses work and gets paid for personal time off The parent's employer loses the value of the work the parent produces on the job The illness in some cases causes family costs for over-the-counter medicines In some cases the illness causes doctor's visits and test procedures In some cases the illness causes prescriptions, such as antibiotics or allergy pills Installing classroom air purifiers helps every class of students that uses the classroom in the future. School districts will spend approximately $50,000 per teacher providing health insurance over the next five years. Teachers spend an additional 15% to 20% in co-pays and deductibles Respiratory illnesses are a major contributor to teacher health costs Reducing health costs spending is a key contributor to controlling health insurance costs Teachers voices are a key element of their ability to teach Some teachers report reducing or eliminating daily medications costing as much as $600 per month, saving the school district more than the cost of installing and maintaining the Purifans. Healthier air will reduce sick days and help children have a healthier, stronger respiratory system. Fewer sick days helps students keep up with school work Teachers don't have time to review missed material with students who missed school Help Your School's Budget In some states schools receive attendance-based funding that is withheld when children miss school A 1% improvement in attendance for a school will typically generate more funding than the cost to install and maintain Purifans in the entire school.  Some Purifan-equipped schools reported as much as a 6% increase in attendance.  A more typical target is a 2% increase in attendance. Fewer teacher sick days will save on substitute teacher costs Ceiling fan airflow can reduce a school's heating and cooling costs. When children have fewer airborne allergens they will need less mind-numbing allergy medicine. Purifans filter the classroom air 40 times per hour to reduce airborne allergens and toxins producing: Less frequent use of rescue inhalers Fewer allergy doctor appointments and expensive tests Fewer school to emergency room ambulance rides Fewer emergency room visits (Average cost estimated at $750) Fewer hospital admissions (Average 3 day stay costing $37,000) Reduced need for daily allergy medications and daily breathing treatments According to CDC recommendations, filtering 12 or more air changes per hour can help reduce airborne spread of contagious bacterial or virus-based illnesses or infections like TB, whooping cough, flu, cold, MRSA and gastroenteritis. Some experts claim classroom air quality may be responsible for 50% of new Asthma cases in children Some studies show permanent respiratory system damage by age 17 because of dirty air quality Some studies reported by the EPA show average test scores were 11% to 17% higher in schools with the best indoor air quality compared to schools with the worst indoor air quality. Ideas on How to Have a Successful CAFK Project in Your School Step 1 - Form a Group of Interested Parents Ask parents who want to help to join a Clean Air for Kids Project group to attend meetings, contribute ideas and help create a fund raising plan for your school. Step 2 - Become Convinced Believers Study the research from various sources to fully understand the impact airborne particulates and toxins can have on the health of students and teachers.  Consider a survey of parents to find out how much money is being spent by families and teachers on allergy medicines, asthma or repeat respiratory infections. Step 3 - Consider an In-School Purifan Trial We expect intelligent parents to be skeptical of air purifiers and the potential impact on particulate levels and health issues.  Most air purifier studies by medical groups find that when air changes per hour are less than 10 or 12 room air changes per hour, very little symptom reduction is achieved.  When air changes per hour exceed 12, significant symptom reduction is reported in children and adults.  So Purifan is a unique solution, and has many key characteristics that make it the ideal air purifier for a classroom.  These include quiet operation, whole room air-flow patterns, low cost to buy, low cost to operate, low energy use, impact on cooling and heating costs, no ions or ozone generation, lifetime warranty, low maintenance and the ideal, out-of-the-way ceiling fan location.  You should be able to get feedback from teachers and students who suffer from allergy and asthma problems.  You can also measure particulate levels in equipped and non-equipped classrooms.   Step 4 - Understand the Costs The typical school spends about $1,500 per classroom in the first year to install Purifans and change the filters.  The second year costs can be as low as $150 per classroom if a parent group cleans and installs the filters or $240 per year of this is outsourced to a vendor to clean the units and install the filters. So if a 20 student classroom spends $1,500 the first year, and $240 per year for four more years for the classroom, that totals an additional $960.  This means the five year total is $2,460 or about $123 per student.  This is an average of $25 per student per year. Step 5 - Calculate the Potential Payback and Savings Many schools say, "we can't afford this", or we don't have the money, but in reality the problems caused by high levels classroom airborne particulate and toxins are costing the school, families, employers and health insurance companies much more than the cost of classroom air filtration systems.  So if the reduction in airborne particulates causes a decrease in these costs, the air purification system actually saves or generates more money than it costs.  The total costs over the first five years are about $150 per student to fully equip most elementary schools, with 20 to 25 students per classroom.  That is $30 per year to try to save the average child and their family 3.7 sick days per year.  The $300 per day government study value applied to saving 3.7 days would save families, employers and insurance companies a total of about $1,110 in costs. In attendance based school funding states, that is $30 spent to generate about $160 per student in additional annual funding for the school.  That generates $800 per student over five years compared to the $150 per student total costs.  Teacher health insurance costs are strongly influenced by respiratory related illnesses, so helping keep teachers healthy can lower future insurance costs much more than the cost per classroom. Step 6 - Prepare a Fund-Raising Plan Determine your options for raising the needed funding.  Consider parent donations, asking area employers to contribute, talk to prominent health insurance companies about a grant or donation.  Consider area private and family foundations, or interested national private foundations who focus on student wellness programs, disease prevention or improvements in early education results.  Consider grants offered by federal and state grant programs from the EPA, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services and other government grant programs.  Consider school fund raising projects like car washes, donation drives and others.  Consider approaching state representatives about funding from Medicaid programs who pay almost $2,000 per year per Medicaid insured child.  Many of these health costs are driven by respiratory related illnesses, allergies, asthma, colds and flu.  So a strong argument can be made that preventing some of these costs should be a big payback to the state children health insurance programs.  If a 5% health costs savings is achieved for each Medicaid insured student that is approximately $100 per year savings for a $30 per year average cost.  Your group can focus on doing a few classrooms each year, based on fund-raising success.  Once parents understand the amount of money being spent on allergies, asthma and respiratory illnesses can be reduced by preventive wellness programs like classroom air filtration systems, they should support fundraising efforts for their students and teachers.. Download a PTA Whitepaper on Cost Savings Download a Take-Home Survey on Family Spending Related to Respiratory Illnesses Download a Sample Parent Letter You Can Send Home to Ask for Volunteers and Donations