February 2009
Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago's e-newsletter is published monthly and contains news of Respiratory Health Association happenings, program updates and links to lung health resources.
This month's issue includes:
- Lung Transplant Nurse Hustles Up the Hancock
- Happy First Anniversary, Smoke-Free Illinois!
- Program Update
To receive our monthly e-newsletter, send an email to info@lungchicago.org.
Lung transplant nurse hustles up Hancock
In her work at Loyola University Medical Center's transplant center, Jennifer Johnson, RN, and a transplant team of physicians and nurses frequently fly around the Midwest to pick up donated organs. She works closely with patients in all aspects of the heart and lung transplant process from waiting for a donor to recovering from surgery.
"You create a bond with the patients," Johnson said. "They're looking for that reassurance that they are not forgotten."
As a cardiothoracic procurement coordinator, Johnson understands the struggle her patients go through everyday. On February 22, 2009, she will climb the 94 flights of John Hancock Center during Hustle Up the Hancock, benefiting Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago to honor those battling lung disease.
"Patients awaiting transplant are constantly reminded that they need a transplant," Johnson says." I have a lot to be thankful for because I can breathe."
Johnson says it is often difficult for me to empathize with patients awaiting transplants because she has healthy lungs. By participating in Hustle Up The Hancock, Johnson gets a feel for what her patients experience on a daily basis.
"That feeling of air hunger makes me know what they feel like to have that desperation to breathe on a daily basis," says Johnson. "It's not just a job - I take their fight very personally."
Johnson's stepdaughter, Kelsey, 10, will also be doing the climb. She's already raised over $1,000 and trains with her stepmother on the weekends at Loyola.
Happy Anniversary, Smoke-Free Chicago!
Respiratory Health Association unveiled a sculpture on January 6th to commemorate the one year anniversary of Smoke-Free Illinois. On January 1, 2008, Illinois became the 22nd state to ban smoking in public places. In preparation, Respiratory Health Association issued a bounty on ashtrays. Students from Chicago's Columbia College took the defunct ashtrays and transformed them into a sculpture, "Phoenix," signifying beauty created out of something ugly.
"We find "Phoenix" an appropriate title for this work in the purpose of giving new life - a more beautiful existence - to the ugly past of the ashtrays. No longer serving the smoker, but enriching the viewer," said Emanuel Aguilar, one of three student sculptors.
Aguilar and fellow artists, Vincent Finazzo and Eric Seigel, sought to eliminate any reference to the ashtrays and smoking by crushing up the glass. They revealed their artwork at a press conference in the Thompson Center along with RHAMC President and CEO Joel Africk, State Senator John Cullerton, State Representative Karen Yarbrough, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold, Restaurateur Dan Rosenthal and Healthy Lungs Initiative Steering Committee Member Dr. David Goldberg, all of whom spoke about the benefits of the Smoke-Free Illinois law.
"As result of this law we will see fewer Illinoisans suffer from lung cancer, fewer heart attack hospitalizations and fewer asthma attacks. Simply stated, the Smoke-Free Illinois law will save lives," said Joel Africk, president and CEO of Respiratory Health Association.
The sculpture is currently on display in the office of Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.
Program Update: Healthy Lungs Initiative
Cook County is partnering with RHAMC on a broad sweeping program to help improve the lung health of its residents. The new Healthy Lungs Initiative is a five- year, $6 million investment on the part of Cook County to provide tobacco cessation services and to educate the public about asthma management and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) management.
"The county has shown its commitment in helping underserved populations protect their lung health," says Stacy Ignoffo, Senior Director of Programs and Professional Services at RHAMC. "We are proud that Cook County has chosen RHAMC to implement this important initiative."
Healthy Lungs Initiative will target lower socio-economic populations, as they suffer from elevated rates of smoking and asthma related hospitalizations. RHAMC has hired ten fulltime employees and plans to hire six more, most of them health educators, to work with the affected populations through Cook County's health clinics.
With an estimated 690,000 people in Cook County still smoking, the first focus of the program is tobacco cessation.
"Our goal is to generate up to 50,000 hospital and clinic based tobacco cessation contacts over the life of the Initiative," says Sara Semal, Healthy Lungs Initiative Clinical Supervisor. "We will subsidize nicotine replacement therapy for 11,000 quitters and expect to generate 7000 new non-smokers."
Education on asthma and COPD is also a focus of the initiative. The rates of asthma and hospitalizations due to asthma in Cook County are nearly double the national rates. African-American and Puerto Rican communities experience even higher numbers than the general population. COPD is a treatable disease that is currently the fourth leading cause of death in the nation. Unlike the other leading causes of death, the prevalence of COPD continues to rise - it is predicted to be the 3rd leading cause of death by 2020.
Dr. Anne Krantz of Cook County Health and Hospitals System and Healthy Lungs Initiative Steering Committee says, "This program will provide enhanced patient education to improve asthma self-management skills to patients at County and other safety-net clinics in Cook County. We expect that this enhanced education, as recommended in the NHLBI Asthma Guidelines, will strengthen the partnership between patients and providers and help to improve the overall asthma control of our patients. We are pleased to be collaborating with the RHAMC, who are experts at implementing community level asthma programs, in developing and implementing the Healthy Lungs Initiative."
The COPD and asthma education curriculum will include self-management skills and avoidance of environmental triggers to decrease symptom frequency and severity.
