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For Immediate Release
Contact: Lynne Ayres
Ohio
Hospitals Helping Lung Disease Patients Breathe Easy Basic
tasks such as getting dressed, setting the table or dusting are
virtually impossible for nearly 5,000 Columbiana County residents
suffering from lung disease. But East Liverpool City Hospital is helping
many of those patients conquer these and other basic tasks while
providing smoking cessation programming, nutrition classes, medication
education and various clinical services through its pulmonary
rehabilitation program, “Save Your Breath.” That’s
just one way Ohio hospitals are already celebrating National Pulmonary
Rehabilitation Week by helping some of the nearly 1 million Ohioans
suffering from lung disease breathe a little easier. Scheduled
from March 10-16, Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week promotes the role
pulmonary rehabilitation plays in enhancing the quality of life for
those who struggle with lung disease, which afflicts nearly 25 million
people nationally and is the fourth leading cause of death in America,
according to the American Lung Association (ALA). Pulmonary
rehabilitation does not cure lung disease, but helps to reduce its
symptoms, decrease disability, increase the patient’s participation in
physical and social activity, and improve the individual’s overall
quality of life. Lung disease includes lung cancer, asthma,
tuberculosis, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD). Common forms of COPD are emphysema and chronic
bronchitis, which affect over 500,000 individuals in Ohio. Ohio
hospitals are doing their share to treat all forms of lung disease.
Using funds from the Ohio Public Health Priorities Trust Fund, 30 Ohio
hospitals received more than $372,000 in grants for pulmonary
rehabilitation programs from the Foundation for Healthy Communities,
sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association. The trust fund was created
in 1999 out of monies Ohio received from the national tobacco
settlement. Pulmonary
rehabilitation often includes education about lung disease, relaxation
techniques, stretching and chest wall exercises. Ohio hospitals are
taking the treatment one step further. “The
grant money is a great extra step in helping Ohioans afflicted with lung
disease,” said Lynne Ayres, director of the Foundation for Healthy
Communities. “It allows hospitals to reach people who might otherwise
fall through the cracks by covering services like ongoing maintenance
treatment, prevention initiatives and transportation that insurance does
not routinely cover.” The
need for pulmonary rehabilitation in this state is great. An estimated
957,674 Ohioans are currently living with lung disease and in 1998,
16,651 Ohioans died from lung disease, according to ALA. Tobacco use
is to blame in about 80 to 90 percent of lung disease cases. Ohio had
the second highest cigarette smoking rate for adults of any other state
in 1999 at 27.6 percent. Other
causes of the disease include frequent lung infections and exposure to
industrial pollutants, a problem Ohio’s 29 Appalachian counties are
still dealing with from the days when industries such as coal-mining,
chemical manufacturing, steel, glass, pottery and fertilizer dominated
the region. For example, ALA estimates nearly 5,000 people in Columbiana
County currently suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. East
Liverpool City Hospital and the only other hospital serving this county,
Salem Community Hospital, both received grants from the tobacco monies
for pulmonary rehabilitation programs. The
Ohio legislature will determine this spring how future tobacco
settlement funds will be allocated. Funding could go for additional
pulmonary rehabilitation programs to help improve the lives of the 1
million Ohioans suffering from lung disease. Contact
hospitals in your area to learn how they are helping lung disease
patients. The following is a complete list of hospitals that received
funding from the Foundation for Healthy Communities for pulmonary
rehabilitation programs in the fall of 2001:
The
Foundation for Healthy Communities was created and endowed by Ohio
hospitals in 1994 to promote creative collaborations for better health.
Sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association, the Foundation encourages
hospitals and health systems to move beyond traditional roles of healing
illness and injury and develop promising methods for promoting health in
ways that will help all members of their community realize their
potential. Learn more about the Foundation for Healthy Communities at
www.ohanet.org/healthycommunities. ### |
