World COPD Day 2022
Overview
Organization: Breathe California of the Bay Area, Golden Gate and Central Coast
Start Date: 10/2022
End Date: 11/2022
Primary Goal: Goal 1: Empower people with COPD, their families, and caregivers to recognize and reduce the burden of COPD.
Secondary Goal(s):
- Goal 5: Translate national policy, educational, and program recommendations into research and public health care actions.
Objective(s):
- Increase public awareness of the risk factors and symptoms of COPD so that earlier diagnosis of symptomatic individuals becomes the norm
- Increase the effectiveness and variety of outreach communication campaigns and activities that utilize evidence-based approaches to raise awareness of COPD, particularly among those at high risk, and help people diagnosed with COPD manage the disease
- Expand opportunities to increase COPD awareness across the public-private spectrum
- Put into action prevention strategies that are proven effective in addressing the 80 percent of COPD deaths due to smoking
- Strengthen the public health infrastructure for addressing COPD
Collaboration: Santa Clara Family Health Plan; The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. San Jose State University Public Health Program; City of San Jose Senior Health and Wellness Program; El Camino Health; Yoga Bharati; the Emphysema Foundation of America; Kentfield Specialty Hospital and Peninsula Health Care District.
Activity Type: Patient education, Event, Campaign, Provider education
Activity Description
On November 16, in conjunction with World COPD Day, Breathe California of the Bay Area Golden Gate and Central Coast hosted a free, hybrid (both in-person & virtual) educational conference on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The workshop and activities reached 100 people, where 40 people were in-person and 60 people were virtual. Attendees included patients, caregivers, public health and respiratory therapy students, medical professionals, and others interested in the topic.COPD refers to a group of diseases that cause airflow blockage and breathing-related problems, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema, and is the fourth leading cause of death in the US. About 10 million people have been diagnosed with the disease, and around 24 million people remain undiagnosed. COPD is mainly caused by smoking, but it is also caused by air pollution, including workplace exposures.
The workshop started with keynote speaker, Dr. Lisa Postow, Ph.D., Program Officer, Airways Biology and Disease Branch at National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, who spoke virtually. Dr. Postow presented on the status of COPD in the U.S., current NHLBI work, and emerging treatments. She also held an “Ask a doctor” session after her presentation and answered audience’s questions from medication to cleaning respiratory therapy equipment.
Another virtual workshop speaker was Shilpa Datt, RPT, CCM, CHM, Physical Therapist, Patient Assessment Coordinator at Kentfield Specialty Hospital. Shilpa discussed the importance of energy conversation techniques and provided tips for daily living activities of COPD patients.
Our third speaker, Kalpanadevi Thiyagarajan, BE (Electronics), RYT -200, Senior Yoga Faculty of Yoga Bharati presented in person in San Jose. She led interactive Breathing Exercises with all attendees both in-person and virtual. She also provided information on how to improve the quality of life for COPD patients, how breathing exercises can calm COPD patients and increase vitality.
Both virtual and in-person attendees participated and enjoyed our educational Bingo game, for which we had 3 winners. Additionally, San Jose State students made a COPD interactive educational board which was displayed on the site;
in-person visitors liked our educational display board and learned some valuable information about COPD from it. Moreover, spirometric lung health screening was provided for the in-person visitors preceding and following the event.
Audience
General Audience: Patients, Caregivers or family members, At-risk populations, General Public, Health professionals, Policymakers/advocates
Focused Audience: n/a
Program Reach: National, State, Local: California, Illinois: SF Bay Area CA, International: Bangladesh
Type of Area: Urban, Suburban
Setting: Community, Home, Online, Blanca Alvarado Community Resource Center
Cost and Funding Sources
Direct costs for the event were very low because there was no venue to rent. Santa Clara Family Health Plan provided space for the in-person event at its new Blanca Alvarado Community Health Center. San Jose State University students arranged for a while $500 donation through a novel “GO FUND ME” campaign, which was used to buy lunch for the guests and to buy gifts for Bingo prizes. Speakers were all volunteers. The main cost was for outreach: mailings, fliers, development of earned media (PSAs and news releases), and recording/posting the video. There were minor expenses for door prizes and some miscellaneous expenses such as upgraded Zoom coverage. Those expenses were shared by the partners listed above. All expenses, both in-kind and paid by the agency totaled about $5,000.Impact Analysis
We had 100 attendees; among which 40 people were in-person and 60 participants were virtual. Among the virtual registrations, it was a very mixed crowd with 26 students from different schools and colleges (High schoolers to Graduate students), 15 health care workers, 7 COPD patients, 2 caregivers for someone with COPD and others just wanting to know more about COPD. The hybrid format apparently attracted the large student group this year. The in-person attendees were mostly seniors who were Santa Clara Family Health Plan patients or attended senior centers where it had been promoted, together with more students, mostly public health students from near-by San Jose State University.From poll input:
Why they came:
34% came because of the expert speakers. 27% came for the Breathing Exercises, 14% came for Lung Health Screening, 7% came to socialize with other COPD patients, and 18% came for the games and prizes.
How they heard about the conference: 38% heard about it from distributed flyers, 27% from social media, 26% from word of mouth; and 9% from emails and snail mail.
What they will do with the information they learned: 33% will use it to put tips into action; 31% will share this information with the person they care for; 14% will use information to seek testing or more information; 17% will use information to frame questions for their healthcare provider and 5% is other.
Advice or Lessons Learned
We found that a hybrid event can be very successful. We learned that it is still easier to get people enrolled virtually, but the people who came in-person were able to do lung health screening, learned and play around with the educational display board, had lunch and socialized with other attendees. They also had a better Breathing Exercise session with the Yoga Instructor.When working with a hybrid platform for an event, it is really important to over-plan for any technical difficulties and make sure all presenters who present in person are involved and practice their roles. For the in-person event, we were open half an hour earlier than the online event, so that visitors could have enough time to do their Lung Health Screening, have lunch and play around the educational display board before starting the presentation. We had to make sure that these in-person visitors were seated before the event start. Then, we offered screening and tabling activities after the virtual event, also.
Related Links
Contact Information
Breathe California of the Bay Area, Golden Gate and Central Coast
Chief Executive Officer
San Jose
California