November is COPD Awareness Month

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the #4 cause of death in the United States.

 "More women than men die of the disease each year, but many do not know they have it,” according BREATHE LA Pulmones Libres/ Breathe Free COPD Awareness and Education Program Coordinator Everardo Alvizo. “Well-known lung diseases like emphysema and chronic bronchitis are encompassed in the definition of COPD, but the term itself has yet to generate the same name recognition. Our goal is to help people understand that an ongoing sense of breathlessness or chronic cough could be COPD. Awareness, early diagnosis and treatment will help avoid complications and can improve long term quality of life.”

BREATHE LA COPD Awareness Month activities include a Spanish language Pulmones Libres/ Breathe Free community presentation and workshop, ¿Conoces la EPOC? (Do you know about COPD?) at Echo Park Library Community Room on November 14th at 4pm. The program is free and open to the public and will be presented in Spanish with English translation.

This is one of many workshops “designed to reach at-risk communities in Los Angeles,” said Health Educator Carmen Zapata.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Heart Lung and Blood Institute and BREATHE LA, COPD ‘hotspots’ are common in ethnic minority neighborhoods. The number one cause of COPD is cigarette smoking, and second-hand smoke but air pollution also plays a role in the development of the disease. Minority women are at high risk for having undiagnosed COPD, and at highest risk for long term disability and death from the disease.

BREATHE LA Pulmones Libres/ Breathe Free program goals include outreach and education to this population. BREATHE LA will also participate in a variety of COPD awareness activities, in conjunction with local and national collaborators including California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, Planning for Healthy Communities conference Nov. 18 in Los Angeles. Details for both events will be posted to the BREATHE LA website in early November. Radio ad spots are airing on Clear Channel stations KFI and KTLK as well as Spanish language Radio Univision. Listen for them or hear them here.