If your child has asthma, you may want to have them attend Warwick Pre-school. The Government nursery school on the busy Middle Road in Warwick gets highest praise from asthma specialist Liz Boden who operates Open Airways charity.

At the school, Pauline DeShield is the educational awareness team leader. She's held that post for the past five years and during that time the school has made significant changes to help combat asthma.

Nine years ago, Mrs. DeShield made frequent trips to the Emergency Ward of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) with her six-year-old son. Then she met Ms Boden of Open Airways. " Liz came to my home, put stuffed animals in the fridge, had me take up the carpet and even suggested to my doctor to put my son on Singulair," she said. "My son was six years old then. He's still prescribed Singulair and he's turning 13. It made a difference in his life."

In fact, Mrs. DeShield found Ms Boden's intervention so helpful that she makes certain to schedule her to present to parents of the pre-schoolers every year. Soon after the school year starts, a general letter is sent to all parents of children at Warwick Pre-school, to discover who has asthma.

The parents of those children are then invited to attend a presentation by Open Airways at the school. "It's about an hour long and Ms Boden likes for the parents to come with their children," said Mrs. DeShield. "It's very informative, the children understand it and get involved because it's interactive," she said.

This year, 17 of the 80 children at the school have asthma. Mrs. DeShield said Ms Boden tries to make it as easy as possible for parents to fit the event into their schedules. "She held it at 8.30 in the morning but only parents of ten students could come so she had another meeting to accommodate the rest," she said.

But the school not only advocates parents attend the meeting, it has also adopted all the suggestions the charity made to provide an environment hospitable to asthmatics. The school had been carpeted but all the carpet was removed and replaced with tile. "We just have a few area rugs," said Mrs. DeShield. Scented candles and plug-in type air fresheners were gotten rid of and windows were opened more to allow good air circulation. "We try to keep our school very clean and dust free. We have no pets and put all supplies in plastic containers. Our administrator here also makes sure the school is thoroughly cleaned. At every holiday professionals come in and clean everything. I think that makes a big difference.

"The more education you have, the better the children are."

But it's not just the children; Mrs. DeShield herself recently developed asthma. She said three years ago she had her first attack and it was so bad that she had to be hospitalised for about a week. "I received five nebulizers," she said. And just this February at a Pathfinder camp in Michigan in February, she had another attack. "Cold weather triggered it," she said. "I try not to get wet and to stay warm. It's in my family and sometimes it is a genetic thing."

She said staff at the school look out for warning signs among the children and sometimes, alert parents that their child may be asthmatic.

"Not every child is alike. Some wheeze, some have a cough, some may just have discomfort and tightness in their chest," she said. "I've suggested to parents to have their child checked and over the years I'd say about five students discovered they had asthma this way."

And once a child is asthmatic, Mrs. DeShield said they must bring their inhaler with their name clearly written on it, to school every day. "We tell parents to make certain it is in the child's schoolbag," she said.

In this way, if a child is about to have an attack, a teacher can easily help. Asthmatic children are taught how to use their inhalers on their own but Mrs. DeShield said teachers at the school are also equipped and ready to help.