November marks National COPD Awareness Month, an important time when health care organizations, communities and individuals like yourself can band together to help spread the word about COPD. The goal of increasing awareness is to encourage early detection and treatment of COPD, which leads to better outcomes for patients with the disease.
If you're looking to make a difference, every little bit helps! Here are a few ways you can help increase awareness of COPD in 2012:
- Visit the COPD Coalition to see if your state is currently involved in passing COPD Awareness Resolutions. If it isn't, find out how you can help get a resolution passed.
- Visit the COPD Action Center to sign up to be a COPD advocate. A simple email is all it takes to do your part.
- Join the DriveforCOPD movement and help put the brakes on COPD.
- Host an event in your community with a little help from the NHLBI.
- Volunteer for the COPD Information Line and help callers learn more about COPD.
- Sign up to be a member of YourLungHealth.org and rally around issues that are important to lung health.
- Take the COPD self-assessment survery; pass it along to friends and family members who may be at risk for COPD.
- Plan a World COPD Day Event in your community on November 14, 2012. Support other events in your area.
- Like World COPD Day on Facebook and see what others are doing to spread the word on that day.
- Print out Gold Ribbon Stickers. Pass them out to friends, family and coworkers to wear for COPD Awareness Month.
Do you have any suggestions to help increase COPD awareness? Please share your comments.
At one time I was a military wife. Cigarettes were so inexpensive at the military stores that you thought nothing of being a smoker as it didn’t dig much into you budget. Why not press the military to join in helping create more awareness with military members and their families about smoking leading to COPD and an early death!