Groups Rewarded for Health Work

Kaiser Permanente will award two Orange County community groups today with $25,000 grants each for their work in childhood diabetes and asthma programs.

Both groups, Latino Health Access and the Pediatric Adolescent Diabetes Research and Educational Foundation, work to teach families how to manage the illnesses.

PADRE runs more than 100 support groups and educational programs for thousands of children with diabetes living in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. PADRE, which is based in Orange, plans to use its grant to fund an education program for parents of newly diagnosed diabetic children.

Latino Health Access plans to use its grant to create an asthma assistance fund for low-income, Spanish-only speaking families in Orange County. The Santa Ana-based group meets with families and children in schools, churches and apartment buildings to discuss ways of decreasing exposure to asthma allergens that trigger attacks. The grant will help families buy allergy-controlled bedding and air filters to use in their homes.

Since 1998, Kaiser Permanente has awarded about $200,000 to state organizations that help people suffering from asthma and diabetes.