Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
Lennox and Addington County General Hospital will launch a new program Nov. 15 it hopes will help Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) sufferers breathe a little easier.
Aptly named the Breathe Program, it will fittingly go live on World COPD Day. Known as the third biggest killer worldwide, COPD is a progressive disease that impacts lung function and limits the ability to breathe properly.
The Napanee program will also be the first of its kind in the South East Local Health Integration Network.
“What we’re trying to do through the Breathe Program is when (patients) do come into the hospital, we want to identify that they’re at high risk for readmission and we want to give them the resources and the knowledge about this disease,” said LACGH respiratory therapist Annette Stuart. “(The program will teach patients) how to manage it and make sure they’re managing it appropriately with medication and exercise and follow up with vaccinations for the flu and pneumonia.”
Stuart says COPD patients are among the highest number of readmissions to LACGH and among the highest users of emergency room services. The new program, through referrals from local physicians, will aim to provide better care at home and look to decrease the number of hospital visits.
“The hospital isn’t going to be their only resource,” Stuart said of the new program. “It’ll be one of the resources, but we’re going to give them access to community care nursing though Rapid Response Nursing with the South East LHIN.
“We’re going to give them access to an outpatient for COPD. We’re going to give them access to emotional caregiver support as well because it can be very anxiety inducing and a scary process to go through when you can’t breathe and we’re also going to give them access to a rehab program for breathing.”
The new program will work in conjunction with a patient’s current family physician and a 24-hour helpline for non-emergency calls. It’ll also save patients from having to drive to Belleville or Kingston for treatment.
“By us adding the program at our hospital, it’s going to service the community very well,” said Stuart. “The other programs in the area have a one-year wait list. We’re going to commit to trying to get these people that come out of the hospital with this disorder, to get in there within four weeks.”