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NEWS RELEASE



OGHS Plans World COPD Day Event
11-04-11
From left: Paul Guillory, Les Bourg, Katrina Prejean & Dr. Santiago (11/17/10)

Dr. Jose' Santiago and Don Sanford (11/17/10)

    Opelousas General Health System is planning World COPD Day. It is scheduled for Wednesday, November 16, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. in the OGHS Audirorium on third floor. Patients diagnosed with COPD, family, friends, OGHS employees, OGHS Board, Administration and Medical Staff, as well as the public, are invited to attend. Learn more about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, its causes, diagnosis and treatment. Also available will be: nutrition education, literature on respiratory drugs, spirometry education, oxygen therapy education, exercise therapy display, refreshments & more!

The following is an excerpt from the Opelousas Daily World dated 11/18/10
Opelousas, LA – To raise Awareness and promote diagnosis and treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Opelousas General Health System held its 3rd annual World COPD Day on November 17th. "COPD is a category of disease, not one disease, There are 22 different diseases that cause airflow obstruction in the lungs. The big three in this country are asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis." said Jose' Santiago, Pulmonologist. It is estimated that five percent of the American population has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 10 million know they have it and another 14 million don't know they have it. Dr. Santiago said contrary to popular belief, not all cases are smoking-related. A patient may have one of those diseases without chronic airflow obstruction. For instance, it's possible to have bronchitis or asthma without it necessarily leading to COPD.
And sometimes, a patient may have COPD, but it may be misdiagnosed as a nonobstructive lung disease, like simple asthma. That's what happened to Don Stanford, one of the speakers at the seminar. Stanford, a 65-year-old local author, was diagnosed with asthma 23 years ago. He was under the care of a pulmonologist and on medication, but his condition kept getting worse.
"I had to stop in the middle of a sentence to draw a breath, "Stanford said. "I felt heavy when I was walking. I couldn't run, I coughed a lot.
I fought for breath. "It was rough having COPD. My air intake was bad. The whole quality of life was not there."
For most of the 23 years, Stanford's score on airflow tests was 75 percent. The scores for normal airflow are calculated according to height, weight and gender. Scores below 80 percent are considered to be in the COPD range, Santiago said.
Four years ago, his score dropped to 65 percent. "They told me it would probably go down 10 percentage points every year," Stanford said. AT that time, he decided to change doctors and began seeing Santiago. His medication was changed and he was placed on an exercise program to increase his strength and lung function.
"Now, I am doing a boxer's workout with a heavy bag, a speed bag and a leg workout," Stanford said. And now, four years later, his airflow score is 111 percent, he said.
Events like World COPD Day, which as its name implies is held around the world, help to educate people as to how to recognize COPD in themselves and in their loved ones, Santiago said.
About 80 people attended the event at OGHS, where they were able to listen to guest speakers, pick up information and visit with representatives of the American Lung Association, drug manufacturers and vendors of equipment that can assist COPD patients.
The idea is to help people to avoid going through almost two decades of undiagnosed COPD, as Stanford did. "If anyone has a recurrent shortness of breath, coughing or mucus production, they should make an appointment to get their lung numbers," Santiago said. "It's a simple test to do, and it can be done in the office.

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