This post was authored by Kristen Szymonik, BS, RRT, AE-C

November is COPD Awareness Month! This means that many in our community are stepping up to share education and raise awareness about chronic lung disease. There is a lot of great information out there about COPD, unfortunately, not all of it is true. In honor of COPD Awareness Month, we are diving into some common myths about COPD. Do any of these sound familiar to you?

1. "COPD is an elderly person's disease."
   While it is true that many people aren't diagnosed with COPD until later in life, those early warning signs of COPD can be present in young people. Early diagnosis and treatment can help to stop the disease from getting worse over time. If you have any symptoms of COPD, including cough, shortness of breath, increased mucus production, or unusual tiredness, be sure to see your health care provider and get tested for COPD.

2. "COPD is only caused by smoking."
   Smoking is just one of the causes of COPD. COPD can also be genetic, which means that it runs in families. It can also be caused by exposure to chemicals, different types of smoke, and pollution. Some veterans have COPD due to exposures to different chemicals and substances during their tours of duty. Infections in childhood can also cause COPD.

3. "I was just diagnosed with COPD, and now my life is over."
   Living with a chronic condition like COPD can be overwhelming at times. But it is important to know that no one has an expiration date! While COPD is a progressive disease that can become worse over time, there are ways to slow that progression. If you make healthy changes in your life, stay active, take your medications as prescribed, and avoid people who are sick, you can prevent flare-ups (exacerbations) and live well with COPD. For tips on how to stay healthy in your COPD journey, check out our Tips for Living Well with COPD flyer.

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This post was written by: Ashley Medina Tallyn, MHA, RRT.

Breathing clean air is important for everyone, especially those living with a chronic lung disease. The quality of air you breathe can significantly impact your health and well-being. Knowing the importance of clean air can make a big difference in how you feel and live.

Breathing in clean air:

• Reduces Symptoms

  Clean air can help reduce COPD symptoms, like coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. When air is clean, it's easier to breathe.

• Improves Lung Function

  Cleaner air means fewer bad particles, like smoke, dust, and pollen, getting into your lungs. These tiny particles can cause irritation. By breathing cleaner air, you can keep your lungs healthier.

• Ensures Safer Indoor Air

  It is important to keep your home free from dust, mold, and other pollutants that can make your indoor air unsafe and cause breathing problems. Using medical-grade air purifiers can help make the air inside your home cleaner by killing harmful pathogens. Regularly cleaning your home and using a dehumidifier can also help keep the air clean and safe.

• Encourages Healthier Outdoor Activities

  Outdoor air quality can change due to the weather and pollution. It is helpful to get into the habit of checking air quality reports before going outside. On days with high pollution, it is best to avoid outdoor activities to protect your lungs. When the air quality is good, spending time outside can boost your mood and overall health.

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This article was written by Jamie Jarrard, BA.

In this second part of our Financial Health Summer Series, we're debunking five common myths about financial planning, to help you understand how a good financial plan is both accessible and an essential part of your overall wellness.

1. Myth: Financial planning is only for the wealthy.
   Fact: Financial planning is for everyone!

   Many people think they don't need a financial plan because they believe they are only for the wealthy. But the opposite is true: financial planning is for everyone! Having a plan helps you make smart choices with your money, no matter your income level.

2. Myth: A budget is the same thing as a financial plan.
   Fact: A budget is just one part of your financial plan.

   Think of your financial plan as a toolbox, and your budget as a tool that helps you track your expected income and expenses. While important, your budget only provides part of the picture of your overall finances. To truly understand your finances, you should include other tools like retirement planning, investments, and savings. You need to fully stock your financial toolbox to achieve your financial goals.

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This article was written by Crystal Rothhaar, BS.

In November 2023, the COPD Foundation celebrated COPD Awareness Month with resources, education, and events as part of the annual Lace Up for Lungs campaign. Partners from around the world engaged in activities to promote awareness and encourage early diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

While many organizations participated in the event, Cipla USA Inc., the wholly-owned US subsidiary of Cipla, a leading global pharmaceutical company and leader in lung health, celebrated throughout the month of November with activities and events, including their 3rd annual Blow Art Challenge. The Challenge showcased artwork created by employees and their family members and offered contest winners the opportunity to contribute to a favorite charity.

Four winners of the Blow Art Challenge were chosen, and their artwork is featured on a dedicated space called the “Cipla Blow Art Wall” at Cipla USA's headquarters in New Jersey. The winners include:

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This article was written by Stephanie Williams, BS, RRT.

Whether you're experiencing breathing challenges or have recently found out you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), there are things you can do to help you live well with COPD. We've partnered with Village Medical™, a national primary care provider, to give you the information and tools you need to handle your COPD symptoms and diagnosis. The questions below can help you understand your condition better, manage your symptoms, and make the best choices about your health care.

Let's get started!

What is COPD and how do I know if I have it?

Your health care provider can help you understand COPD and its symptoms, treatment, and more.

"COPD is a lung disease that can become worse over time," said Dr. Troy Fiesinger, a primary care physician at Village Medical. "COPD makes it difficult to breathe. Symptoms include shortness of breath, cough, wheezing, and chest tightness."

If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, you may need a spirometry breathing test. The test measures how much air your lungs can breathe in or out. It also measures how easily and fast you can blow air out of your lungs. This information can help your health care provider determine if you have COPD.

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This article was written by Jonnie Korinko, MSRC, RRT, RRT-ACCS.

On June 26, 2024, Verona Pharmaceuticals announced that its new medication, Ensifentrine (Ohtuvayre), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the maintenance treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). See the press release here. Ensifentrine works in two main ways to help people breathe better:

1. Relaxing Muscles: It helps the muscles around the airways in the lungs relax. Imagine squeezing a straw and letting go—more air can get through. Ensifentrine helps open up the airways so air can flow more easily.
2. Reducing Swelling: Sometimes, the airways get swollen and irritated, making breathing even harder. Ensifentrine helps reduce this swelling, like putting ice on a sprained ankle to make it feel better and less swollen.

Here's why this drug development is so important:

There are more treatment options available now. The medicine has a dual action, meaning it works in two ways—relaxing muscles in the airways and reducing swelling. Using a medicine that can do both actions may be more effective for some people than a medicine that only addresses one issue.

This release shows innovation in drug development for COPD. Ensifentrine acts on receptors different from those normally targeted in COPD treatment. This development could open up new research opportunities for the COPD community and provide an alternative treatment option for people who do not respond well to current treatments

This treatment can help people with COPD. The medicine may help lessen COPD symptoms, make breathing easier, and lead to fewer hospital visits.

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This article was written by Tara Shedor, MA.

The COPD Foundation recently spoke with Maddox, a high school senior from Cedar Rapids, IA who races his FWD 4-cylinder Hornet at Hawkeye Downs Speedway. Maddox has added the COPD Foundation logo to his car and has become a brand ambassador for the COPD Foundation. Read on to learn more about Maddox and his passion to spread awareness of COPD.

How long have you been racing and how did you get involved?

This is my second year racing, and my first with a full schedule. Last year I took part in various events, but this year it's more structured. I've always been around cars since my dad's a mechanic and my uncles raced. Last year, my uncle had a spare car that he was willing to sell to me so that I could start racing with my own car.

How long are the races, and how often do you race?

Right now, I'm racing weekly. I run a heat race which is about 8 laps and a feature which is 15 laps. I also do some one-off events where it's 200 laps or what they call "enduro races."

What inspired you to raise awareness for COPD?

There was a guy who worked for my dad named Harold Walton. I was close to him; he was more like family than just my dad's work friend. He always came around, and we talked a lot. Unfortunately, he passed away, and that really affected me. We had a memorial for him on my car and it sparked the idea of raising awareness about COPD.

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This article was written by Jamie Jarrard, BA.

"I'm going to live the best life that I can live, and I'm going to advocate for others."

When Karen Deitemeyer was diagnosed with COPD, she was angry.

In 1991 her doctor warned her that if she did not take care of herself, she would likely develop emphysema. She took this advice to heart and quit smoking. She thought she'd done everything right to avoid chronic lung disease, but soon noticed she couldn't walk as fast as her friends, and couldn't climb stairs or carry groceries without getting winded.

10 years later a pulmonologist told her she had COPD.

"It was scary at first," Karen recalled. "But that was before pulmonary rehabilitation."

Karen was surprised by her diagnosis because she believed that if she quit smoking, she could avoid COPD. Instead, she learned that the disease can affect anyone, even those who haven't smoked. Karen decided she would not live in fear and would learn everything she could about COPD.

She dove headfirst into pulmonary rehabilitation, which is a supervised medical program that helps people who have lung diseases live and breathe better. Pulmonary rehabilitation taught her how to take care of her health, the importance of exercise, and how to take her medications.

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This post was authored by Kristen Szymonik, BS, RRT, AE-C

When you think of a caregiver, who do you picture? Are you thinking about a person pushing someone in a wheelchair or taking care of a person in a bed at home? While these pictures may pop into our minds when we think about caregiving, they are actually missing some folks! A caregiver can be anyone: a son or daughter, husband or wife, mother or father, friend, relative, neighbor, or partner. A caregiver is anyone who loves and cares about you.

Health care teams tend to focus on the person who is living with COPD and often forget about the caregivers in that person's life. Caregivers have one of the hardest and most important jobs—supporting people with chronic health conditions. So why are their needs so often overlooked? The COPD Foundation offers resources just for the caregivers in your life. These are the people who care deeply about your health and well-being, and they should be supported and celebrated!

There are many helpful resources available for caregivers. Village Medical and the COPD Foundation recently collaborated to produce a new COPD Caregiver Packet, which features tips for you and your caregivers. Another helpful resource is the COPD Caregivers Toolkit, created by Respiratory Health Association, that offers important information on how caregivers can care for both themselves and someone with COPD.

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This article was written by Jamie Jarrard, BA.

Financial wellness can be a challenge for anyone, but may be especially hard if you are also managing a chronic illness, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This summer we will be exploring ways to help manage your finances and plan for the future while navigating life with COPD. Some of these tips may be difficult to apply while living on a fixed income, and we will address more options in the future to support all individuals with chronic lung disease.

According to the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, average annual healthcare costs when living with a chronic condition can easily climb above $6,000 per person¹. Managing COPD can cost over $10,000 per individual each year².

Fortunately, there are proactive steps you can take to help soften the burden and prepare for future expenses.

1) Create a plan to become debt free.

Just as each individual is unique, each debt load is unique and requires personalized attention. However, the general principles of becoming debt-free can help you create a plan:

• Create a list of all debts owed, including total amounts, minimum monthly payments, and interest rates.
• As you can, begin making extra payments above the minimum amount on the debt that carries the highest interest rate, while continuing to pay the minimum monthly payment on all others.
• As each debt is paid off, use the money that was going towards the highest interest rate debt and apply it to the one next down on your list.
• Repeat this process until all of your debts are paid off.

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This article was written by Michael W. Hess, MPH, RRT, RPFT.

"Health policy" is a phrase that can end conversations as soon as they start. Most of us do not even like to think about things like policies or lobbying or regulations, let alone chat about them. All we really need to know about how a bill becomes law we learned from Schoolhouse Rock, right? However, it is very important to be familiar with what is happening in health policy. These rules can have big impacts on your health and financial well-being. Staying informed helps prevent you from surprises down the road. Today's blog is meant to update some of the biggest changes in health policy and to help show how YOU can get involved to support positive policies!

The Inflation Reduction Act

We covered many of the highlights of this law in a blog post last October, but we are now starting to see some more of its effects. For example, drug companies are now allowed only to raise prices in line with inflation. The prices they charge Medicare cannot be raised faster than that or they have to pay a penalty. Since many people with COPD also have other medical concerns, this can really help your pocketbook. Copays for vaccines have been eliminated. The infamous “donut hole” in medication coverage has also finally started to close. That means if you have a Medicare Part D plan, you will not have to pay more than $2,000 a year for your meds starting in 2025!

Pulmonary Rehabilitation

Pulmonary rehabilitation is, dollar-for-dollar, one of the best things out there to help with COPD. You can read many success stories on COPD360social from people who learned to exercise safely and manage symptoms better through pulmonary rehab. Unfortunately, many people are not able to take advantage of this wonderful tool. They may live in an area with no programs nearby or they may not be able to get transportation to a program in their area. During the pandemic, "virtual" programs that can be done at home became more readily available. These programs had similar benefits to in-person programs but were much easier for people to use. Unfortunately, the end of the national public health emergency last year also meant the end of Medicare coverage for these programs. Many programs had to shut down. There are two bills in Congress right now that would restore coverage for these programs. That would allow more people to receive the benefits of pulmonary rehab. However, both bills need more sponsors to be successfully passed into law.

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This article was written by Stephanie Williams, BS, RRT.

Living with a chronic illness such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can sometimes make people feel anxious or sad. These feelings can affect how they manage their illness and their overall health, so it is important to spot the signs and know how to get help.

In this blog, Dr. David Hatfield, a primary care doctor and chief physician executive at Village Medical, will give tips on how to feel better both physically and mentally by exercising, spending time with people, and having a good relationship with your doctor.

Let's dive in to discover how you can better understand and navigate the mental health challenges that come with COPD to take control of your well-being.

Can you help our readers understand the important connection between mental health and chronic conditions such as COPD?

COPD can affect more than your physical health - it can harm your mental well-being too. Having a chronic condition such as COPD can lead people to have anxiety and depression. It is normal to feel overwhelmed when learning you have a chronic illness, in part because you may now have a new medication routine. There may also be changes in your body like being tired or short of breath. If you need to use an oxygen machine, you may feel nervous or anxious about leaving home. All these new challenges can be stressful for you.

Even though stress is a feeling, it can have an impact on your body. Have you ever noticed that when you are feeling stressed your heart beats faster and your breathing becomes fast and shallow? This is because when you are under stress, your body produces stress hormones. These hormones can trigger COPD flare-ups or even weaken the immune system causing a domino effect that can make your flare-up worse leading to a hospital stay.

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