NEW YORK, NY May 30, 2007 —East Harlem will get the city's very first Asthma Center. Mayor Bloomberg says the center will offer a variety of education services with the goal of cutting asthma hospitalizations by 50 percent by 2010. East Harlem has the city's highest asthma rate.

REPORTER: Dr. Adam Aponte of Harlem's North General Hospital says the city already has many different treatment programs but the new center will offer more individualized services and counselors.

APONTE: These are usually probably bachelor trained individuals who will go into a household, assess the environment and sort of implement simple measures to decrease the triggers in an environment. So actually it's going to prove to be a very cost effective measure.

REPORTER: The city hasn't yet chosen a location for the new asthma center, but the mayor says it will be sited in a storefront so people can walk in of the street.