Social Health Network Spotlight: Andrea M. Jensen

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Andrea M. Jensen, CHES, AE-C. Andrea is a Nationally Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), a Certified Asthma Educator (AE-C), and coordinates an Asthma Home Visit Program. In addition, Andrea authors a blog, “My Life as an Asthma Mom.” She truly embodies the Patient Leader.

For the last 5 years, her blog has been listed as one of the best asthma blogs by Healthline. It was recently included in the U.S. Library of Medicine – National Institute of Health’s Medical Library and Archives. She is a board member of Allergy & Asthma Today magazine and involved in many other asthma education agencies in her home state. We wanted to pick Andrea's brain about all things health advocacy!

SocialHealthNetwork.com: Could you tell us how you got involved in health advocacy & your background in public health?

Andrea Jenson: 25 years ago, one of my children was admitted to the hospital, and then diagnosed with asthma. Not long after that, I and my other two children were also diagnosed.

It would have helpful to have a basic introduction to asthma, but the respiratory therapist printed off 30 pages of articles for me and left them on my son’s bedside table in the hospital. That was overwhelming and too much to deal with while my son was hospitalized and struggling to breathe.

Back then, the internet was not widely available. This was also before smart phones, so I couldn’t sit at my son’s hospital bedside and look up information.

I eventually plowed through the print outs, read asthma basics articles in magazines, grilled the respiratory therapists and Asthma Doc about things I didn’t understand, listened to asthma education webinars, and attended asthma conferences. I started sharing the information I had learned with other families.

A friend suggested that I go back to college and get a degree in Public Health because I had a knack for helping others with asthma education. I went back to college and earned my Public Health degree; I also became nationally certified in Public Health (CHES ®) as well as Asthma Education (AE-C).

I am active in statewide and national asthma agencies, sharing my knowledge and advocating for various issues surrounding asthma, allergies, and food allergies.

With a background in public health, I make sure the asthma education I provide is accurate and evidence based. I am passionate about advocating for others with issues I see in treating asthma, allergies and food allergies.

SHN.com: Is advocacy your career or your "side hustle?" How have you made this venture financially possible?

AJ: Advocacy is part of my career in public health, it is included in “The Eight Areas of Responsibility for Health Education Specialists” in the U.S. I was careful to never step over the line between advocacy and lobbying.

I am also passionate about helping others with asthma. It’s not uncommon for me to receive a text, email, or message on social media from someone needing help.

I've been known to help others with asthma while on vacation – true story. I couldn’t NOT help a woman in Hawaii who was using her albuterol inhaler 5 or 6 times a day. Not only was that dangerous, but it could end her life.
I explained my profession and that I specialize in asthma education. I asked if her doctor had prescribed a daily controller/maintenance inhaler to keep the swelling down in her lungs. She said she had a dry powder inhaler but hated it and so she didn’t use it. I showed her a poster of asthma inhalers and noted that her same dry powder inhaler was available as a metered dose inhaler.

I gently explained that using excessive amounts of albuterol could lead to her death, and that’s why doctors prescribe daily inhalers to prevent the swelling in the lungs – which usually decreases asthma attacks. She was excited to see that she had other options for daily controller inhalers and promised to call her doctor to make the switch.

I walked away knowing that I had helped save someone from a dangerous situation.

My advocacy efforts have always been side projects, and not lucrative. But it has led to consulting with asthma inhaler manufacturers, and being a paid content creator for asthma.net since 2016, and also for allergies.net.

What has advocacy brought to your life?

Starting back in 2015, our family would visit Washington, D.C. every May to participate in Asthma Awareness Month and visits to our representatives. We were able to advocate for those who couldn’t share their voices about allergies, food allergies, and asthma. We were excited to see the FASTER Act passed (The Food Allergy Safety, Treatment, Education, and Research) which mandated adding sesame as the ninth major food allergen. It must now be listed on food labels.

I also participated in summits with other advocates from around the world that also focused on allergies, food allergies, and asthma education. I met new friends and colleagues there.

I met a different group of colleagues while creating content for Asthma.net. These colleagues have collaborated at conferences and also commiserate during flu season as the flu or COVID could land us in the hospital.

In addition, I have met other advocates from other professions while working on legislation for my state’s Stock Albuterol Law. Partnering with school nurses is important in my asthma education outreach.

You've completed our online Patient Leader Certification. Could you share a few things about the program that you found particularly helpful?

The Patient Leader Certification has information I wish I would have known years ago, such as: how to connect with your audience, leverage social media, create a media kit, manage balance and burnout, develop professional relationships, and know the rules and regulations on social media. (FTC requires you to disclose endorsements, and sharing someone else’s original content without permission/attribution can be a copyright violation!)

It’s important to know the rules and regulations as you share your story on social media.

Could you give advice to those who have been doing this for a while but are looking to advance their advocacy journey?

Find your niche. Not only do I specialize in asthma education, but I have given input on grants and research from the patient perspective, caregiver perspective, and my professional perspective.

Approach your advocacy efforts in the way you are most comfortable. I prefer making graphics for My Life as an Asthma Mom, but others enjoy making reels, hosting podcasts or support groups. I may be one of the few people in America who doesn’t use TikTok!