COPD Awareness Month – It’s Not Too Late to Make a Difference!

November is almost here, but it’s not too late to plan COPD Awareness Month outreach activities in your community.  Learn More Breathe Better has the resources to help you make the most of COPD Awareness Month.  Order a campaign resource kit or download fact sheets, radio and print public service announcements (PSAs), PowerPoint presentations, a speaker’s guide and more from our website.  Once you’ve finalized your plans, be sure to post your event information on our event listing page.

You can also support the COPD community by attending an event sponsored by one of our campaign partners.  Check out our event listing page to learn more about activities taking place in your area.

Partners in Motion…The American Association for Respiratory Care’s (AARC’s) Respiratory Care Week and Lung Health Day

As a long-time partner of the Learn More Breathe Better campaign, the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), a professional society for respiratory therapists with more than 42,000 members nationwide, is playing a big role in raising COPD awareness. As part of Respiratory Care Week (October 22-26) and for Lung Health Day (October 24), the AARC is encouraging RTs to consider COPD as a theme for outreach events and to utilize campaign materials in their awareness building efforts.

AARC members learned about Learn More Breathe Better through an article in the AARC Times, through links on the AARC website, and through direct e-mails. In addition, the AARC is taking part in the Mobile Spirometry Unit project, in partnership with the COPD Foundation.

Since 1982, Respiratory Care Week has been observed annually to honor RTs for their contributions and to help demonstrate the value of respiratory care professionals in all healthcare settings.  Lung Health Day is sponsored by the AARC to promote the importance of lung health and build awareness of diseases and conditions that adversely affect healthy lungs.  Special events are planned nationwide to educate the public, recruit new students into the RT profession, and promote lung health awareness at the community level.

To learn more about events taking place in your area this week, visit the AARC web site.

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Spotlight on….Barbara Rogers, National Emphysema/COPD Association (NECA)

Barbara Rogers is President and CEO of the National Emphysema/COPD Association (NECA), an organization dedicated to making patient-centered care for COPD a reality.  Barbara has been with the organization since its inception in 2001.

NECA is preparing to launch an exciting opportunity for patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals to have their voices heard on a number of issues pertaining to COPD. The organization is conducting a national COPD Needs Assessment Survey, to better identify the unmet medical needs of people with COPD.

How did you become involved with NECA and COPD advocacy?
I had a background in marketing and marketing research, and I wanted to apply that to developing programs to bring patients’ perspectives to educating healthcare providers. While I don’t have COPD myself, I do have scoliosis and asthma, so I use many of the same treatments and have similar challenges. In 1999, I was asked to speak at a symposium at Columbia University where we developed the idea for NECA. It became incorporated in 2001.

How can people take part in the Needs Assessment Survey?  
Surveying will begin the last week of October 2007. Some people will receive hard copies of the survey in the mail or with their oxygen refills. Other patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers who are interested in participating can access the survey online.

To learn more about NECA and the Needs Assessment Survey visit www.necaweb.org.

Barbara Rogers currently resides in Manhattan. She has one son and is the proud grandmother of four.

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