Community Asthma Program

Health assessments from an asthma educator and free one-on-one education for children and their families to help them understand and manage asthma.

Service details

An asthma educator can help you:

• understand and manage your child’s asthma
• identify triggers and learn how to control them
• recognise mild, moderate, and severe signs of asthma
• demonstrate correct puffer and spacer use
• understand asthma medications
• develop a written asthma action plan
• learn asthma first aid
• talk to your GP, school, or childcare

Who is this for?

Children aged 1-17 years with asthma or preschool asthma and their families living in the north and west of Melbourne in the following local government areas:

• Banyule
• Brimbank
• Hobsons Bay
• Maribyrnong
• Melbourne
• Melton
• Moonee Valley
• Yarra
• Wyndham

Appointments are available at cohealth clinics, telehealth, or home visits. This is a free program.

If you need an interpreter at your appointment, we can arrange this for you for free.

How can I book an appointment?

Anyone can make a referral to CAP, including:

• parents or carers
• GPs
• nurses
• pharmacists
• Maternal and Child Health Nurses
• hospitals
• schools.

To refer, please complete one of our referral forms:

• parents and carers can fill in a self-referral.
• health professionals and other referrers can fill in this referral form.

You can also phone us on 9448 6410 or email CAP@cohealth.org.au to find out more or make an appointment.

Medical Practices: our referral form is available on Best Practice software. Find the referral form in the Supplied Word Processor templates, see instructions to locate it here.

Nurse Practitioner service

CAP also has a Nurse Practitioner service.

This service offers:

• support for children who do not have a regular GP or cannot access a regular GP
• Asthma Action Plan
• asthma medication prescriptions
• supportive shared care with a GP
• referrals to additional services when required

To access the Nurse Practitioner service make a referral using the forms linked above. All referrals will be triaged and referred to the nurse practitioner service as required.

More information and asthma resources

• Asthma Australia: information about asthma management, triggers, and how to live well
• Royal Children’s Hospital: videos and fact sheets about asthma management
• Improving Childhood Asthma Management Resources
• Breathe Easy brochure in English, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified) and Vietnamese
• National Asthma Council: videos and information about how to manage asthma symptoms and use asthma medications
• Sensitive Choice, created by the National Asthma Council Australia to help people live better with asthma and allergies.

DPV Health also has a Community Asthma Program.