COPD Management
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, affects millions of Americans. If you have COPD, you know how hard it is to live with. Both chronic bronchitis and emphysema may be involved.
Mission's program for COPD is here to help. It includes an evaluation by Mission's Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program and a comprehensive self-care plan designed just for you. Services are individually designed for people with:
- Asthma
- Bronchiectasis
- Chronic bronchitis
- Emphysema
- Cystic fibrosis
- Those who have had lung volume reduction surgery for emphysema
We also offer services to those individuals preparing for, or returning from, lung transplantation.
Team members include a pulmonologist, physical and respiratory therapists, registered nurses, a dietitian, psychologist, and exercise specialists.
As part of this program, you will:
- Be assessed by a registered nurse and a registered Respiratory Therapist in the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program laboratory.
- Take a 6 minute exercise test to help us understand your level of COPD.
- Be asked some questions to see how much you already know about COPD.
- Learn what COPD is and how it is treated
- Learn more about your medications: exactly what they do, and how to use your medication devices. (Small changes in technique can make a big difference in their effectiveness)
Each patient receives a personal care program based on their medical condition. The program may include patient, family, and community resource education, nutritional and psychosocial counseling, an exercise program, training in breathing techniques and bronchial hygiene, and smoking cessation.
We can also help you decide whether our Pulmonary Rehab program would benefit you. If so, we will arrange a referral from your personal physician. Otherwise, your one-on-one care manager will continue to meet with you on an as-needed basis and will support you. You stay in the plan until you decide you are ready to leave, or until your employer no longer covers it.
For more information or to make an appointment, call us at 828-213-7000.
Important: Because it's almost impossible to improve or even stabilize your COPD if you still smoke, we cannot accept participants until they quit. Mission offers a powerful, compassionate Smoking Cessation program for people addicted to nicotine. For information, call 828-213-5527.
