July has been an incredible month for bronchiectasis awareness and education. Through the Foundation’s efforts, we have made strides on a global scale to bring more recognition to this lung condition. We hope that World Bronchiectasis Day will inspire further research and build better treatments for bronchiectasis.
World Bronchiectasis Day was a huge success. More than 20 global professional organizations and advocacy groups joined together to recognize this day. Social media was flooded with support from patients, caregivers, health care professionals, and industry experts. People throughout the world were excited about this day and it showed.
To support our efforts to bring more awareness to World Bronchiectasis Day, the team here at the Foundation had several educational events and offerings planned. The first of these was a new bronchiectasis education booklet called, “All About Bronchiectasis.” This booklet is free to download and is a great place to begin when learning about how bronchiectasis is diagnosed and treated. It gives great information on how you can live well with bronchiectasis and reduce your chances of a flare-up. We hope that this educational booklet will be a great tool for those curious about bronchiectasis, just diagnosed, or who need a refresher on how to cope with the condition.
On World Bronchiectasis Day, we premiered an educational event on Facebook. This event was called “Living Well with Bronchiectasis.” Mike Hess, MPH, RRT, interviewed patient ambassador, Katie Keating, RN on how to live your best life with bronchiectasis. Katie provided wonderful information about airway clearance, nutrition, exercise, and staying well with the diagnosis. This interview did not disappoint.
For primary care providers (PCPs), we featured a new video series on our website. On World Bronchiectasis Day, the “Advancing Bronchiectasis Awareness and Education” video series with Tim Aksamit, MD, Medical Director of Bronchiectasis and NTM 360, went live! To support the bronchiectasis community, we realized we had to include everyone (and that meant the health care teams too)! The need for education and awareness extends to anyone that crosses paths with someone who may have bronchiectasis, so we could not leave out our PCPs. In this 5-part video series, health care providers can advance their knowledge of bronchiectasis diagnosis, treatment, and management by choosing the areas that need more development in their practice.
Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all the wonderful education that was done this month by the COPD Foundation’s education team on airway clearance. Airway clearance is a key part of managing a lung condition (like bronchiectasis) that is plagued by excess mucus. Educating our community on these techniques (whether you struggle with excess mucus daily or just when you have a flare-up) can make a difference in managing a lung condition. If you are interested in learning more about airways clearance techniques and how they can help those who manage excess mucus, download the “All About Bronchiectasis booklet.”
Thank you to our COPD360social and BronchandNTM360social community for all your support in July. We look forward to August where our focus for the month will be “Planning Ahead.” Stay tuned everyone!