Pollen Walk - brief videos introduce the major environmental allergens

In this video series Dan Mork, HollisterStier Allergy Pollen Facility Manager he identifies the major allergens found throughout the United States: www.youtube.com/user/JHSAllergy

The JHSAllergy Channel currently features the "Pollen Walk" videos, a series that follows Dan Mork, Pollen Facility Manager, as he identifies the major allergens found throughout the United States. The Pollen Walk series provides an in-depth exploration of the different plants and trees that are the most common culprits of allergies. Each video covers a specific allergen, explaining how to identify the plant and providing valuable information (source: press release).

During my fellowship, we based a mini-project on one of the Pollen Walks led by Dan Mork. The residents participate in an annual "weed walk" aimed at improving the recognition of common pollen-producing plants (weeds and trees) in their area. This planned quality improvement project included the attendance of all staff members (residents, faculty, nurses, research personnel).

The residents were guided through recognizing and analyzing different pollen-producing plants in the field through an one hour walk in the field. They were encouraged to take pictures of pollen-producing plants with a digital camera. The pictures were later uploaded to a photo sharing website by Google, Inc. (Picasa Web Albums, Pollen-producing plants (weeds and trees) in Omaha, Nebraska, and the residents labeled each plant under the guidance of faculty members. This pollen-recognition project was used to improve and change practice or patient care with faculty support and supervision that guided this process.

A poster was presented during the 2009 ACAAI meeting and published in the corresponding journal: Dimov, V.; Randhawa, S.; Auron, M.; Casale, T. Digital Image Sharing Web Service for Recognition of Pollen-producing Plants in a Specific Geographic Region. American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) 2009 Annual Meeting. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Here are the photos from the Pollen Walk:


Pollen-producing plants (weeds and trees) in Omaha, Nebraska

Related reading:

How to identify this tree? Dendrology at Virginia Tech (Tree ID)
Pictured: The irritating grains of pollen that look like beautiful works of art under the microscope. Daily Mail, 2012.
‘Botanical sexism’ blamed for making life miserable for allergy sufferers as male trees fill city skies with pollen http://goo.gl/cx5tH
Tree and Plant Allergy Info - Botanic Reference Library at PollenLibrary.com