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Reprinted from ANNALS OF ALLERGY, Volume 17, Pages 864-871, November-December, 1959 REHABILITATION OF CHILDREN WITH INTRACTABLE ASTHMA W. B. STEEN, M.D., F.A.C.A. Tucson, Arizona T. HIS paper will present the development' of the program for the rehabilitation of the asthmatic child in the Southwest area which has been popular for many years as a health center. The rehabilitation of asthmatic children and adults began a long time ago before the term "rehabilitation" became popular or before extensive programs were developed. The word "rehabilitation" comes from medieval Latin meaning restoration of one's health and efficiency. The term has been used quite extensively in the sense of restoring a person, such as a disabled soldier, to a status of independent earning power through long vocational lines. Climate has played a great role in the early picture of the rehabilitation of the asthmatic in this area. The Southwest, oif which Tucson is a part, has been a health center for many years. Many of us can remember the time when the standard treatment for tuberculosis was to send the patient to the Southwest. Of late years, patients suffering from arthritis, sinus disease, bronchiectasis, asthma, and other allergic conditions, have found their way to this area for the relief of their afflictions. Many come for the health-giving properties of the climate, others to escape the rigors of the climate in their home areas, and still others just to enjoy the climate. Climatotherapy in the treatment of disease is by no means new. Galen* sent his tuberculous patients to Tabia near Vesuvius, and Celsus* recommended a long sea voyage. Hippocrates* observed many years ago* "It is changes that are chiefly responsible for diseases, especially the greatest changes, the violent alteration both in seasons and in other things, but seasons that come on gradually are the safest, as are gradual changes of regimentation and temperature." In Tucson the seasons merge one with the other gradually and there is not the storminess or violence present which is found in other parts of the country. During the period when climate had its great vogue in treatment of chronic disease, schools were established in the Southwest, and many asthmatic children and children with other chronic diseases found their way into these schools. Most of these children overcame their asthma or controlled it to such an extent that they were able to finish their education. Some remained in the Southwest and others returned to the East and Midwest or other parts of the country. Presented at the Sixteenth Annual Congress of The American College of Allergists, San Francisco, California, March 18, 1959. *Quoted by Stevenson.1 864 Annals of Allergy