The Digest - Volume 5.3
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Dear Digest Reader,
I am pleased to report that we had a tremendous
upsurge in volunteers from the community to become
COPD Advocates and, as the momentum is building, we
need to ask each of you to help increase the involvement
of individuals with COPD, their family members, friends
and health care providers. We need to have millions, not
tens of thousands of COPD Advocates, supporting the
community. Continue Reading This
Addressing Issues at Your State/Local Level: The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
Operation 435, an advocacy movement
set in motion by the COPD Foundation, is
designed to empower patients with COPD
to get them involved in the fight for their
cause, especially on a local level. There are
435 congressional districts in the U.S. and the
Foundation aims to engage them all.
“Our primary strategy is to give a voice
to all of the individuals who are affected
by COPD,” says Joe LaMountain, the COPD
Foundation’s Director of Patient Advocacy. “We
want you to become advocates for the cause
and to engage in government relations. It’s
an effort to get all COPDers involved in the
political process.” Continue Reading This
Making a Difference at the Federal/National Level: Advocating for CDC Funding for COPD
The COPD Foundation is proposing
a federally funded program at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
in the chronic disease division to establish
a national action plan to address COPD and
begin building a public health infrastructure
to address COPD. This means that the COPD
Foundation is recruiting advocates to convince
their congressional representatives to support
funding for a COPD program at the CDC. Continue Reading This
Faces of COPD
Limitless at Mind, Limitless at Heart: COPD Can't Stop Me!
Artist Dennis Oppenheim defines his art
as “art-changing,” rather than “art-making.”
“You aren’t thinking too much about being
practical and you aren’t thinking too much
even about the spectator or how you’ll survive
or any of that,” he says in an interview with
the COPD Digest. “You’re mainly interested in
the deep, theoretical part. It was the pursuit
of redefining what art was. And that’s why I
did it. It wasn’t how it looked or anything like
that. It was upsetting the boundaries of what
constitutes artwork.” Continue Reading This
A Letter From The C.O.P.D. Information Line Team Leaders
Dear friends, As you have seen in this issue of the COPD Digest, November is a particularly important month for COPD Awareness with events taking place around the nation on World COPD Day on the 18th. In addition, 2010 is the Year of the Lung and will kick-off the Decade of the Lung. We’d like for you to take advantage of this movement and become involved with the COPD Foundation. You can donate your time. At one point, you had so many questions about your diagnosis and management of COPD. It can sometimes be a struggle, but as a community, we go through the challenges together. To help others in their journey, you can volunteer your time with the C.O.P.D. Information Line. The Info Line is staffed by COPDers like us who volunteer from their homes a few hours a week taking phone calls from others in the community, offering answers to questions and lending a comforting ear.Continue Reading This
Leaving Your Mark in the Nation: Spreading the COPD Awareness
COPD awareness is present more
than just one day a year in November. It’s a
movement that’s been gaining support and
growing stronger over the years.
“There’s a real push because people
are making a concentrated effort to help
organizations and their communities by
establishing events across the country
throughout the month of November,” says John
Walsh, President and founder of the COPD
Foundation. Continue Reading This
COPD Action Center : Spread Awareness About COPD!
We need your help to spread the word about COPD! The best way is by asking people to sign the Stop COPD! Petition on our website. Here are some ideas: First . . .Continue Reading This
NATIONAL COPD AWARENESS MONTH EVENTS
These are some events going on around the nation for COPD Awareness Month! Be part of what’s going on in your community or start an activity if there isn’t one. Visit www.operation435.org for ideas!Continue Reading This
The H1N1 Virus: What You Need to Know About Swine Flu<
With the winter season on the doorstep,
and with it the start of the traditional flu
season, questions and concerns about the H1N1
(“Swine Flu”) vaccine are rising. Dr. Christine
Jenkins, a member of the Thoracic Society Task
Group for H1N1 in Australia, says people in the
U.S.—especially COPD patients—should take
proper precautions to minimize exposure and
illness. Continue Reading This
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