Campaign Update
November is COPD Awareness Month—Don’t Forget to Register Your Events!
COPD Awareness Month and “Learn About COPD Days” (November 13-16) are fast approaching! Organizations across the country will be joining the effort to raise awareness of COPD by hosting screenings, distributing educational materials, conducting community outreach and working with health professionals to present grand rounds and seminars. Don’t forget to register your events and download the new COPD Learn More Breathe Better® materials, including fact sheets, e-cards and a Web site widget. Click on the following links for more information on COPD Awareness Month and “Learn About COPD Days.”
Partners in Motion… Free COPD Awareness and Screening Events in Nebraska
Rivaling the touring schedules of rock stars and politicians, the Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care, the American Lung Association of Nebraska and the COPD Foundation kicked off a series of COPD awareness and screening events across Nebraska, visiting three major cities in three days. COPD Learn More Breathe Better® fact sheets were distributed and spirometry testing was conducted at retail outlets and shopping malls in Omaha, Lincoln and North Platte in mid-October.
“We reached thousands of patients, caregivers and people at risk for COPD, providing critical information and raising awareness about the disease, its symptoms, risk factors and treatment options,” said Kathy Geier-Craft, Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care’s Public Relations Chair and the event organizer. “The success of these events, especially on such a compressed schedule in major markets, also demonstrates the value of effective partnerships,” she added.
The awareness events garnered significant media coverage. Several interviews were conducted with key spokespeople including representatives of the COPD Foundation, a local pulmonary specialist, a registered respiratory therapist and two patients. Coverage appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star and on the local ABC and CBS affiliates in Lincoln, KLIN-AM and KFOR-AM radio in Lincoln, and the FOX and NBC affiliates in Omaha. The NBC affiliate in Omaha, WOWT-TV, posted the story to its Web site and directed viewers to www.LearnAboutCOPD.org for more information. The story can be viewed by clicking here.
Spotlight on… Roy Van Order, PhD, patient advocate
Imagine going into the hospital for back surgery and finding out you have a serious lung condition—that’s what led Roy Van Order to be diagnosed with emphysema in 1992. It wasn’t until six years later, in 1998, when Van Order saw a pulmonary specialist that he was given his first lung function test, diagnosed with COPD and referred to a pulmonary rehabilitation program.
Given his difficulty in getting diagnosed, Van Order took it upon himself to research COPD and find ways to get important information into the hands of others just like him.
“I spoke with a number of respiratory therapists and pulmonologists across central New York about the lack of information for their patients,” said Van Order. “Most of them said that if I could provide it, they would distribute it, so I teamed up with the COPD Foundation and began taking educational materials to doctors offices and pulmonary rehabilitation centers, including my own Veterans Affairs hospital.” Van Order is now a COPD Foundation Training Manager.
Since becoming diagnosed, Van Order has become a true advocate, starting a support group, reaching out to the media and meeting with local elected officials to highlight that while COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, it is the third leading cause of death in New York state. In addition, Van Order is working with the American Lung Association of New York to promote the state’s first COPD Conference and Patient Caregiver Symposium.
“My hope is that by working together, we can take COPD out of the shadows and let everyone know that it is preventable, manageable and survivable,” said Van Order. “To do that it’s important to work with patients and caregivers and help them understand the disease through education, public awareness and participation in support groups. It is also important that we take responsibility for our own health and be our own advocates.”
COPD Learn More Breathe Better® In the News…
Lincoln Journal Star, Lincoln, NE - October 17, 2008
A recent article in the Lincoln Journal Star highlighted COPD and the awareness and screening event held by the Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care, the American Lung Association of Nebraska and the COPD Foundation. The story also featured the COPD Learn More Breathe Better® campaign and directed readers to www.LearnAboutCOPD.org.
WOWT-TV, the NBC station in Omaha, NE posted information about the screening event organized by the Nebraska Society for Respiratory Care, the American Lung Association of Nebraska and the COPD Foundation and directed visitors to www.LearnAboutCOPD.org for more information about COPD. To view the story, click here.
Tell us about you! Email us to let us know what your organization is doing on behalf of COPD awareness.
