GENTLE physical exercise with the support of health professionals in a multidisciplinary team environment is a key component in the management of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), say members of the Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Outreach Team at University Hospital Limerick.
COPD, a chronic lung disease, affects more than 440,000 people in Ireland and is the fourth biggest cause of death here after lung cancer, heart disease and stroke with one person dying on average every five hours from the disease.
On November 17, in advance of World COPD Day which takes place on November 18, the new Limerick COPD Support Group and members of the UHL Pulmonary Rehabilitation team will be working with COPD Ireland as part of the ‘Save your Breath’ campaign to offer free screening for people with COPD. This will take place in Pery’s Hotel from 11.00am until 2.30pm.
Niamh Julian Senior Physiotherapist, Pulmonary Rehabilitation & Outreach at University Hospital Limerick, explained, “Breathlessness can be very frightening for COPD patients, which can cause a downward spiral where patients are afraid to venture out.”
“A gentle physical exercise programme, carefully designed for each individual, will help patients to feel less breathless doing day to day activities such as walking up stairs, shopping or dressing. The more patients do the more control they have over their condition overall.”
Niamh Julian, together with Clinical Nurse Specialist Maria Cullinan commenced the COPD Outreach and Pulmonary Rehab Programme in the Midwest in 2012. To date, 230 patients have participated in the UL Hospitals programme. As a result, patients have had shorter and less frequent admissions to hospital and overall, ‘length of stay’ is reduced.
Carmel McCarthy from Mungret was one of the first patients to participate in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation programme at UHL. She has had COPD for over 15 years and is living daily with the condition.
Speaking about living with COPD Carmel said, “There is no cure for COPD, I gave up smoking 15 years ago which was the first step for me as smoking is a key cause of COPD. After participating in the Pulmonary Rehab programme, I have learned that to stay as active as possible helps me to manage the breathlessness and have more control over it, it is less frightening now.”
For more information on COPD see www.copd.ie.
