Until you have suffered an asthma attack you can never seriously appreciate the sheer pleasure of being able to breathe freely.

And tomorrow the problems of asthma and how to make sure it is controlled properly will be highlighted by a special fundraising event by the charity Open Airways which is holding an 'Hour of Air' in Par-la-Ville Park from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.

School groups will sing, perform music, hula hoop and toddlers will do sponsored walks around the park, among other things.

There will be exercise classes for adults as well as asthma education. A team of nurses will be on hand to answer questions and also administer lung function screenings for smokers and former smokers over 40-years-old.

There will be special asthma freebies given out such as spacers and microfiber cleaning cloths which allow you to clean without using chemical cleaning agents that can trigger an asthma attack.

There will also be opportunities on hand to make a donation to Open Airways.

"We have never asked the general public for money before," said Liz Boden, president of Open Airways. "Our budget isn't huge, compared to other charities."

In the past they asked local companies for help funding their education programmes and projects.

"Because of the economic times we live in, suddenly now the support has gone way down so we have to think of other ways to keep ourselves going," said Nurse Boden. "This is the first time we have done this. We have not done tagging before."

She said so far, 43 schools are participating in Hour of Air. Some aren't coming to Par-la-Ville Park but are doing their own in-school activities.

"Schools are doing anything from blowing bubbles, to sports days," she said. "One nursery school is going to have the kids outside all day. Another school will have the kids outside reading."

The Once Upon A Time nursery will be marching through Hamilton with percussion instruments on their way to the park. They will be singing 'Puff The Magic Dragon'.

Saltus Grammar School will be at the park with a band of wind instrument performers. They will also be doing a project where they will get everyone breathing through straws to show what it feels like to have an asthma attack.

There will be prizes for the best musical, artistic, and sporting idea.

Nurse Boden said one in five children in Bermuda schools has asthma. "We have a school nurse who goes to all the schools to do asthma education," she said. "She does an amazing job. She has set up registries in every school.

"Before, when she asked teachers, 'how many students do you have with asthma', they didn't know. And this is a life threatening illness.

"So every school now has a register with the names of the children with asthma and also the number of days of school they have missed because of it."

Kids who are missing a lot of school due to asthma get a visit from the school asthma nurse who will help the family control the asthma and set up a personal management plan and provide any basic necessary equipment.

"Before asthma education, some kids with asthma were missing up to 21 days of school in a year," said Nurse Boden. "The following year after education, being just in a big assembly or one-on-one if they are missing a lot of days — we have it down to one or two days or none.

"It is not just about the kids feeling better, but also about self-esteem."

She said they have seen many children do great things after learning how to control their asthma. "I always remember one boy who ended up being the top junior triathlete in Bermuda," said Nurse Boden. "He was getting in trouble in physical education class. His mother suspected it was asthma because he was coughing.

"His mother called us. He had trouble particularly with the cross-country running. He was very athletic, normally."

He was subsequently diagnosed with asthma. Following treatment he was able to fully participate in sports again and became the top junior triathlete.

"His mother sent me a picture with him with a medal on his chest.

"The key thing is that asthma is treatable — the goal is control."

Asthma is treated with a variety of different medications , spacers and inhalers, among other things.

"Quite a lot of children start swimming when they have asthma," said Nurse Boden. "It strengthens the lungs."

She said a new study suggested that more children were developing asthma because of sedentariness in early childhood.

"Babies are sitting in chairs all the time instead of getting tummy time," said Nurse Boden, "and then children spend too much time watching television instead of getting outside and playing. All activity exercises your lungs."

Open Airways has been highly successful since it started its programmes 13 years ago. Asthma admissions to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital are down 77 percent; although thousands still visit the emergency room with asthma each year.

Their model has been so successful that other countries are trying to replicate it and next month, Nurse Boden will speak at a conference in Boston about Open Airways. She attributed part of their success to going out into the community.

"We don't sit at a desk and say make an appointment and come and see me," she said. "We go out looking for people with asthma, by going to schools or by holding health fairs. Sometimes companies hold health seminars."

The Hour of Air is being sponsored by the Bermuda End to End Walk.

To make a donation go to their webpage www.openairways.com or telephone 232-0264 or email Nurse Boden at lizboden@logic.bm