Starting March 5, Union Hospital will offer a new support group, the Better Breathers Club. The club was formed to help patients with respiratory disease cope with their difficulties. The group is run by respiratory therapists and asthma educators with presentations by physicians, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory therapists and many other medical personnel.
Working together as a team, the Better Breathers’ Club will enhance the education of the patient and their families on the respiratory illness from which they suffer. Studies have shown that patients who are educated on their disease and therapy and who follow physicians’ recommendations have fewer emergency room and hospital visits.
Better Breathers’ Club is looking for patient input on topics relating to issues they may be dealing with currently. After receiving a request for a certain topic, the club will research and formulate an agenda for the meeting at which the topic will be discussed and questions can be answered. Equipment fairs will be planned that introduce new respiratory products. Patient input is essential in these fairs.
The club will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. the first Friday of every month at the Landsbaum Center at 1433 N. 61/2 St., south of the hospital.
