A Message from NHLBI:
Introducing “COPD Learn More Breathe Better Update”

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute wishes to thank you, our friends and partners, for your many contributions to the early successes of the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign.  We have received great feedback regarding the informal campaign ‘e-mail updates’ distributed over the past few months.  In response to your requests, we have developed COPD Learn More Breathe Better Update!

Mark Your Calendars for November! New Tools Available for World COPD Day and Beyond

Planning an event for World COPD Day? Giving a talk? Conducting screenings? Not sure how to get started? No matter how big or how small your plans for promoting COPD awareness, you will find something useful in the COPD Resource Kit.

In addition to the fact sheets for patients and those at risk, and the reference card for health providers, the Resource Kit includes a poster to help publicize your event and a brand new educational video.

The 9-minute video on DVD features the stories of three COPD patients and answers basic questions about the disease and its risk factors, and demonstrates how real people took steps to manage this disease and breathe easier. It’s not only for seminars-- it works great in clinical waiting areas, too.

For publicizing your event, or simply spreading the word about COPD among your constituents, you’ll find media relations tips, as well as newsletter and press release templates.

Click here for information about ordering COPD Learn More Breathe Better materials.

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Learn More Breathe Better – In the News

NHLBI has demonstrated its commitment to raising awareness through a targeted national media outreach effort that has garnered 40 million media impressions - the number of people who saw, read, or heard about the campaign in the media - since the launch event in January.

Have you heard? Radio stations across the country have responded to the four public service announcements, which are airing on more than 215 stations in 43 states, including 39 of the top 50 media markets. This adds an additional reach of 343 million media impressions.

In addition, NHLBI’s spokespersons have appeared on or in, several major media outlets: Good Morning America, ABC’s morning news show, The Diane Rehm Show, National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek. June was a busy month for the Learn More Breathe Better campaign, with several major national media placements, including:

The View : Three million viewers tuned in to watch campaign spokeswoman Grace Anne Dorney Koppel and her husband Ted on The View.  Hosts Barbara Walters and Joy Behar conducted the interview which focused on Grace Anne’s diagnosis, treatment, and on-going management of COPD.

Woman’s Day: The July edition of Woman’s Day included a three-page feature on Grace Anne in her own words, describing her personal story about living with COPD.

Retirement Living/Daily Café: Grace Anne and her husband Ted discussed COPD on Daily Café, a news talk program on Retirement Living TV.

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Partners in Motion…The COPD Foundation

From Las Vegas to Philadelphia, the COPD Foundation has been spreading the word about the importance of lung function testing and early diagnosis of COPD with the Mobile Spirometry Unit (MSU).

The MSU is a truck with a trailer equipped to provide free testing by respiratory therapists for those who are symptomatic or at-risk for developing COPD. Since the beginning of the year, the MSU has traveled to 12 cities, administering an average of 650 spirometry tests at each stop at health fairs and expos. Foundation representatives also distribute educational materials, including the Learn More Breathe Better fact sheets, the Foundation’s publication COPD Digest, and other helpful information.

To find out when the MSU is coming to your area, visit the COPD Foundation Web site.

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Spotlight on….Vlady Rozenbaum, COPD-ALERT
Breathing life into COPD advocacy

Vlady Rozenbaum is a COPD patient/advocate and founder of COPD-Alert, an online support and advocacy group for COPD patients, their families, and medical professionals. The online forum focuses on daily living with COPD, treatment options, and advocacy efforts.

1. What motivated you to establish COPD-Alert?
   After I was diagnosed with COPD, I needed more effective treatment, but I wasn’t getting satisfying answers. So I looked to the internet where I joined an online support group. I started COPD-Alert in July 2000 to focus on both COPD advocacy and support.
2. What messages does the organization convey to newly diagnosed members?
   We tell them that there is hope and that there are things that can be done to improve their condition. We provide information to help them make it through the daily grind and bring normalcy to their lives. We also ask them to get involved in our discussions, to share their problems and concerns, and to post questions on the forum. There are thousands of posts including messages of support and medical abstracts, reports, and articles which they can read for more information and share with their doctors.
3. How do your members become involved in COPD Alert?
   Many of our members work with the American Lung Association to organize events and to increase awareness of COPD. They also work on smoking cessation campaigns and become involved in promoting pulmonary rehabilitation. We have different aspects of our advocacy that our members can get involved with depending on what they are able to do physically.
4. When it comes to COPD-Alert, of which of the organization’s accomplishments are you most proud?
   Most important to me would be the recognition that COPD-Alert gets not only from the patient community, but also from medical organizations like the American Thoracic Society, the American Academy of Respiratory Care, the American College of Chest Physicians and governmental organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the Congressional COPD Caucus. COPD-Alert also played an important role in the approval of medications to treat COPD and the use of portable oxygen concentrators during air travel.

To learn more, visit COPD Alert.

Vlady Rozenbaum was diagnosed with COPD in the early 1980s. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with Rita, his wife of 42 years.

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