Breathe more easily on World COPD Day

11 November, 2016

City Health Care Partnership CIC’s Stop Smoking service will be working with doctors and nurses from Hull Royal Infirmary on 16 November, World COPD Day, to raise awareness of the effect smoking can have on people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and giving advice to patients and staff on how they can quit. They can also help people to stop before COPD takes hold.

Stop smoking advisors will be in the Hub at HRI - on the ground floor of the tower block beside the café - from 9am to 12noon and again from 1 to 3pm. They will be offering lung health checks, carbon monoxide readings and advice on quitting smoking. Members of the Health Promotion team will also be out and about around the hospital.

COPD is a condition where the airways become inflamed and the air sacs in your lungs are damaged. This causes the airways to become narrower, which makes it harder to breathe in and out and means that people with COPD have breathing difficulties that affect many aspects of their day-to-day lives. The main cause of COPD is smoking and it generally affects people aged 35 or over who are, or have been, heavy smokers.

But even people who already have COPD can find their quality of life improves hugely once they stop smoking. After smoking for 50 years, Tommy Hughes (pictured) quit the habit and he says, “It’s never too late to stop. I would have been dead by Christmas if it wasn’t for Shaneen and at least I’m not getting any worse. You can taste food a lot better and you don’t stink of smoke any more. Just say ‘can you help me?’ and you’ll meet the nicest people who really want to help you.”

For more information ring the Stop Smoking admin team on 01482 580200 or go to www.readytostopsmoking.co.uk, where you can also find clinics at a venue near you.