Each day with the British Lung Foundation is exciting and varied for me, as Project Development Officer for 3 BLF National Projects: BLF Active, BLF Carers and BLF Kids.
BLF Active enables people with lung disease to get access to appropriate exercise. For people with a lung disease the thought of exercise can be terrifying! BLF Active ensures that with the right support you can see for yourself how good physical activity is for your lungs.
Partners, parents, relatives, friends and neighbours provide invaluable support to people with lung conditions. BLF Carers and BLF Kids make sure that if you’re giving support to someone with a lung condition, you get support from us too.
Each project involves working with every department of the BLF - communications, fundraising, support services – as well as healthcare professionals, fitness instructors and most importantly people affected by lung disease.
I am based in the BLF Head Office in London where most days I communicate through email and phone to carers and people with lung disease about their experiences. I am lucky to be able to travel with each project, be it to visit a walking group in Cornwall or carers’ event in North Wales.
I hope this is a place we all can share with us your experiences and ask questions about living with lung disease.
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Hi Stitch,
The gym prescriptions sound like your locality's 'exercise on referral scheme' (ERS).
Under different names in different places, ERS operate when a GP or other Health Professional advises a patient to do exercise as part of treatment or management for their condition.
The HP makes a referral for exercise which goes to a is a central coordination point in the local authority, PCT or Health Board which receives all referrals from HPs and allocates appropriate exercise accordingly.
The referred 'patient' is then contacted by the referral coordinator, leisure centre or gym instructor to arrange an assessment.
The assessing instructor will be qualified with an Exercise Referral qualification.
Most schemes offer a batch of exercise sessions, e.g. 6-12 weeks of free or subsidised exercise classes tailored for people with health conditions. At the end of the programme, 'patients' are encouraged to join non-health condition specific exercise.
Many local authority gyms offer a special reduced rate membership pass for people finishing exercise on referral schemes.
You may know about the specialist respiratory instructors that the BLF helped to train between 2007 and 2011? Many of these work within exercise referral schemes. If you know that there is one in your locality, you can request that the referral from the HP states you would like to see the specialist respiratory instructor,
I hopes this helps! Let us know how you get on,
Thanks, Katie
Hi Katie,
I can understand why people think they wouldn't be able to exercise, I've been in that situation when I was first diagnosed. I could hardly walk, barely breathe and was excessively tired. It was 10 months after diagnosis I attended a PR course and I am so glad I did, since then have never looked back.
It was a slow process initially as I had deconditioned so much and its not a place I would ever want to go again which is why I keep the exercise going now and hope to be able to continue doing so as more years pass.
Its something that is so important and for me without doubt one the things that helps keep our lung health stable.
As I was only diagnoseed with emphysema in late July i am still coming to terms with it .Why is it that some days are so considerably worse than others when I have taken all my daily inhalers ( which are incidentally a god send )?
Sitting here typing this I am looking at an empty firegrate.Would lighting a coal fire upset the applecart even more, am I going to have to be content with central heating from now on..?I know this might be a daft question but I am one of the mad people that love the winter, coal/log fires, wrapping up on a cold windy day and having the wind blow through my hair.Is this the sort of thing that would be more benefical to stop? Sometimes i feel there are so many questions I want to ask .
Sitting here now , crying,frightened of what is yet to come,my family know about this but I feel as it it might just as well be toothache....how can I make them understand how I am feeling.?
marie
Hello Marie,
Thank you so much for sharing how you are feeling. Everything you are feeling and questioning is understandable.
Getting the information and support you need at the time you need it can make all the difference. The BLF Helpline is staffed by a team of caring experts dedicated to answering your questions.
When you feel ready to call them, they'll be there.
03000 030 555. Mon - Fri, 10 am until 4pm
Or you can express your feelings and ask your questions online:
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
The emotional impact of lung disease - written by Jamie who is on work experience with the BLF comms team
Free COPD support and information classes – Portsmouth 
Stay Active Stay Well exercise DVD 
The last couple of weeks
