According to the American Lung Association, 12.7 million American adults were estimated to have COPD in 2011, but another 24 million had impaired lung function, indicating an underdiagnosis of COPD. This serious disease claims the lives of thousands of people every year and is one of the nation’s leading causes of death.
November is National COPD Awareness Month. Join the effort to educate about this condition and the ways home care can help.
- Volunteer to moderate a COPD support group in your community, and don’t forget to provide the refreshments. Connecting your home care services with these groups will allow them to better understand the options available through all types of home care services. Start by learning more about COPD.
- Print out fact sheets on COPD created by the National Institutes of Health, personalize them with your agency’s contact information, and post them on bulletin boards in public spaces throughout your community. Ask retailers and other businesses to post them in their windows as well. Find them here and here.
- Distribute to your community informative brochures that list the symptoms, causes and risk factors for COPD, as well as the services your agency provides.
- Sponsor a lunch at a local respiratory therapist’s office and introduce your agency’s services. Ask to include the therapist in a local speaker’s event in order to network their practice.
- Join the DRIVE4COPD campaign, a national effort sponsored by the Association for Respiratory Care, that aims to identify those who may be unaware they are at risk for developing COPD.
- Team up with a physician and host a lunchtime seminar on effective smoking cessation treatment. Be sure to promote your agency’s many COPD-related home health services.