News

Beebe takes part in World COPD Day 2005

11/08/05

Beebe Medical Center's Respiratory Care Department is joining the worldwide campaign World COPD Day, an annual global event to help raise awareness of COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the world's fourth-leading killer.

According to the World Health Organization, COPD afflicts some 50 million people around the world, and kills nearly 3 million every year.

World COPD Day 2005 will take place on November 16. The theme, Breathless not Helpless, emphasizes that breathlessness and other symptoms of COPD are not a normal part of aging, and that something can be done for people with this lung disease. For example, smoking is a major risk factor for COPD, but many smokers are unaware that their chronic smoker's cough is a first sign of COPD. Once it is diagnosed, effective treatments are available that can help patients feel better and slow the damage to their lungs.

On World COPD Day, November 16, Beebe Medical Center's Respiratory Department will offer free screening spirometry and oxygen testing via pulse Oximetry in the lobby of the main hospital entrance. The screening spirometry will be from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Information will be available on COPD and a respiratory therapist will be on hand to answer questions. No appointments are necessary.