MEDIA ADVISORY

Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs, M.D., J.D., will call on New Jersey's 21 Centers for Primary Health Care to join him in reducing asthma disparities during tomorrow's Commissioner's Asthma Summit. Commissioner Jacobs is welcoming state and national experts on asthma care and many of New Jersey's front line health care professionals as they partner to improve asthma care in the state of New Jersey.

Approximately 455,000 adults in New Jersey have been diagnosed at one time in their life with asthma.  Nine and a half percent of adults with incomes of $25,000 or less have asthma, compared to less than six and a half percent of adults with higher incomes.  African Americans of all ages are more than three times as likely as whites to be hospitalized for asthma, while Hispanics are twice as likely.

The Commissioner's Asthma Summit is the culminating event of his month-long Healthy Communities for a Healthy New Jersey to reduce health disparities in New Jersey.

Where: The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village

             Route 1 South

             Princeton, NJ

When: 9:00 a.m.

Contact: Nathan Rudy, 609-984-7160