CONGRATULATIONS AND THANK YOU!
Congratulations to all of our partners for making COPD Awareness Month a great success! Spirometry screenings, COPD education days, grand rounds, lung health rallies and other awareness events and activities took place across the country throughout the month. Your efforts have made a difference in the lives of COPD patients and those at risk for the disease. Let’s work together to keep the momentum going!
Resource kits, fact sheets, public service announcements, and other materials remain available year round. The Events Listing page will remain active, so register your upcoming activities today! Visit www.LearnAboutCOPD.org for more information. Again, we thank you for your continued support and commitment to spreading the word about COPD and we look forward to hearing more about your many successes.
Partners in Motion…Hawaii COPD Coalition
In support of National COPD Awareness Month, the Hawaii COPD Coalition hosted the state’s first COPD Education Day on Friday, November 2, at Queen’s Conference Center in Honolulu. More than 200 patients, caregivers, and interested members of the community attended the event. More than 100 healthcare professionals, exhibitors and volunteers supported the effort.
Activities included free lung function testing, informational exhibits, and workshops on a variety of related topics including COPD day-to-day management and treatment options. James Kiley, Ph.D, Director, Division of Lung Disease, NHLBI, served as keynote speaker and provided an overview of the Learn More Breathe Better campaign.
Hawaii COPD Coalition member and event organizer Valerie Chang was profiled in a television news piece on the prevalence of COPD in Hawaii. Click here to view.
To learn more about how Learn More Breathe Better can help support your statewide COPD prevention and awareness initiatives, visit www.LearnAboutCOPD.org.
Spotlight on…Barbara Yawn, MD, Olmstead Medical Center
Barbara Yawn, MD, MSc, FAAFP, is the director of research at Olmsted Medical Center and an adjunct professor in the department of family and community health at the University of Minnesota.
Yawn has worked closely with family physicians throughout the country for a number of years. Her research found that there is a definite knowledge gap about COPD among many in the primary care community. As Co-Chair of the US COPD Coalition, she is dedicated to helping to fill that gap.
“COPD is absolutely preventable, and we need to know as much about COPD as we do about preventing high blood pressure or cholesterol.” Yawn said. “Primary care doctors can and should recognize the symptoms of COPD and therefore provide patients with an early diagnosis,” she added.
Along with Dennis Doherty, MD, of the National Lung Health Education Program (NLHEP) and the University of Kentucky, Yawn co-presented a discussion on the “Early Diagnosis of COPD,” at the American Academy of Family Physicians Scientific Assembly. Click here for an overview of her presentation. She has also authored an article on the value of spirometry in the primary care setting that was published in the American College of Chest Physicians, CHEST. To learn more, visit link here.
“We can't cure COPD,” Yawn said. “But we can diagnose it and treat it.”
Tell us about you! Email us to let us know what your organization is doing on behalf of COPD awareness.
