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Breathe Better Network

Since the inception of the COPD Learn More Breath Better® campaign, the NHLBI has been fortunate to have the involvement of a variety of organizations as partners. Since the campaign launch in January 2007, the Breathe Better Network has grown to more than 70 members in 47 states. To learn more about the different levels of partnership and how to join the Network, click here. A full list of Breathe Better Network members is included below.

States with Breathe Better Network members conducting COPD outreach and education

The three levels of Breathe Better Network membership include:

Breathe Better Network Leadership Members
Breathe Better Network Supporting Members
Breathe Better Network Core Members

Breathe Better Network Leadership Members

American Association for Respiratory Care
The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) has been a champion of the campaign since its inception. AARC adopted COPD Learn More Breathe Better as the theme for both their Respiratory Care Week and Lung Health Week in October, 2007. AARC has promoted campaign materials on its Web site, and provided in-kind ad space for the print PSA, and stories on the campaign in the AARC Times.

American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) has provided support for the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign at its annual CHEST conferences including donating exhibit space to the campaign, adding a session on COPD awareness, supporting the distribution of campaign educational materials and profiling the campaign in its CHEST Daily News. COPD Learn More Breathe Better representatives also moderated a panel discussion at the ACCP's Asthma/COPD Summit Workshop. Most recently, the ACCP is conducting a series of Continuing Medical Education workshops across the country and will provide campaign educational materials at each event.

American Lung Association
The American Lung Association (ALA) has promoted the COPD Learn More Breathe Better Resource Kit to its chapters nationwide and has co-branded campaign materials for use in regional and national outreach. ALA included an overview of the campaign and a profile of Grace Anne Dorney Koppel in the November 2007 issue of Lung Health, which was distributed to 100,000 subscribers. The Association also actively provides research data and resource materials to affiliates about COPD.

American Lung Association in Colorado
The American Lung Association in Colorado led the formation of the Colorado COPD Coalition, which developed the nation's first COPD state action plan. The Association regularly works with physicians to educate local communities about COPD and help each community develop its own COPD coalitions, and also conducts events throughout the year to target medical professionals regarding COPD through the Colorado's Area Health Education Center system.

American Lung Association of Arizona
The American Lung Association of Arizona leads the Arizona COPD Coalition. The Association has incorporated the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign materials into its Breathe Free outreach program which educates doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists in remote areas of the state about diagnosis and treatment of disease. The Association also conducts one-hour continuing medical education courses for doctors and nurses on spirometry.

American Lung Association of Minnesota
The American Lung Association of Minnesota is a leader on COPD in the state and region. The Association has been instrumental in convening the state COPD summit over the past few years, developing and revising the state's COPD strategic plan. The Association was successful in advocating to have COPD questions included on the state Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. The Association also utilizes COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign materials including the educational video and public service announcements at conferences and health fairs throughout the year.

American Lung Association of New England
The American Lung Association of New England serves a six state region including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The New England chapter of the Lung Association hosts annual COPD education events in a number of states throughout its region as well as facilitates several Better Breathers Clubs. Additionally, the organization has cultivated strong relationships with health care providers in the region through its ongoing commitment to outreach and education with this group.

Breathe California Golden Gate Public Health Partnership
Breathe California Golden Gate Public Health Partnership is a non-profit dedicated to fighting lung disease, advocating for clean air and advancing public health in the bay area. Through grassroots education, advocacy, and other programs and services it strives to promote and empower multilevel change for better breathing and healthier living. COPD is a core focus area. The organization works to continually integrate the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign and materials into its outreach activities including Better Breathers Club meetings, presentations and a self management/support programs, among other efforts.

Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas — Orange Campus
The Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, Orange Campus, provides comprehensive health services to the people of Orange County, Texas. The facility offers a full range of medical services and diagnostic procedures in general and specialized care in cardiology, endoscopy, gynecology, internal medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, ENT, general surgery, plastics, podiatry and physical medicine. With funding from the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Orange Campus is in the initial phases of executing a program targeted at reducing preventable hospitalizations of those who suffer from COPD.

Breathe California of Los Angeles County (Breathe LA)
Breathe California of Los Angeles County (Breathe LA) conducts extensive outreach about COPD to a variety of communities including the Spanish-speaking population of Los Angeles County. Breathe LA's activity includes distributing co-branded COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign materials. The organization continues to be a leader on COPD by conducting research about the disease and sharing the innovations its partnering researchers develop with the larger COPD community.

Breathe New Hampshire
Breathe New Hampshire is the model COPD outreach organization in the state. The organization has created a volunteer action committee on COPD which meets monthly and works to prioritize action steps for COPD outreach in the state of New Hampshire. Annually, Breathe New Hampshire hosts its Fresh Air Cruise for people with COPD. The cruise provides attendees and their caregivers a chance to meet people like themselves, and share their experiences while building a support network. For some patients this is the longest time they spend away from home all year. Breathe New Hampshire also distributes COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign materials at its events.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is one of the major operating components of the Department of Health and Human Services. Its mission is to collaborate to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health – through health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability, and preparedness for new health threats. The CDC has long provided and promoted COPD information on its Web site and most recently contributed to the COPD community by adding COPD focused questions to its annual Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. Also, the CDC has extended its efforts in the COPD arena by entering into a partnership with the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign. This includes featuring campaign specific information on its Web site as well as working to help those at risk understand the symptoms of the disease and convey campaign messages that with early diagnosis and treatment those with COPD can breathe better.

Colorado COPD Coalition
In June 2007, the Colorado COPD Coalition led Colorado to become the first statewide action plan in the United States designed to address COPD. The plan included targeted distribution of co-branded COPD Learn More Breathe Better print and radio PSAs and the distribution of educational materials including campaign fact sheets for at-risk and diagnosed patients, as well as the educational video. The radio PSAs ran in southeastern Colorado and print PSAs were inserted in agricultural publications as well as in daily newspapers. The Coalition continues to spread awareness of the disease throughout the state via a variety of events like its Breathing Matters event targeting medical professionals, caregivers and patients in an open dialogue about chronic care of adult asthma and COPD.

COPD Foundation
The COPD Foundation (COPDF) has been a leader in COPD education nationwide, and has supported the COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign since its inception. COPDF's Mobile Spirometry program and COPD Shuttle: Journey to the Center of the Lung takes education and screening to large venues nationwide including events sponsored by other Breathe Better Network members. Campaign materials are used in all its outreach. The Foundation has been instrumental in helping several states initiate COPD outreach planning task forces.

Hawaii COPD Coalition
The Hawaii COPD Coalition is the authority on COPD in the state. The coalition holds a COPD Education Day annually, which focuses on managing COPD through sleep, exercise, nutrition and medication. The Coalition also partners with Longs Drug stores to conduct a monthly in-store lung testing program called Project SUCCESS. COPD Learn More Breathe Better campaign materials are distributed as part of this effort.

Illinois COPD Coalition
The Illinois COPD Coalition convened by the Respiratory Health Association of Metro Chicago (RHAMC), completed a statewide plan to address COPD in 2008. The strategic action plan incorporates the distribution of co-branded COPD Learn More Breathe Better materials.

North Carolina COPD Taskforce
The North Carolina COPD Taskforce sponsors a COPD Symposium annually for health professionals across the state which is currently focused on developing and implementing a state COPD strategic plan. Continuing medical education credit is available for attending the symposium. The Taskforce has created low-literacy and Spanish translated COPD materials, and a COPD pocket guide for physicians to distribute throughout the state. The organization is currently compiling COPD prevalence data from its COPD survey conducted two years ago.

Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
The Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC) began COPD education in 2004 and helped lead the formation of the statewide coalition that completed a statewide COPD plan in 2008. RHAMC conducts outreach on COPD regularly to at-risk populations, patients and primary care professionals. The Association's annual “Cruising with COPD” takes approximately 500 COPD patients on a cruise on Lake Michigan for a day of education, inspiration and camaraderie.

Breathe Better Network Supporting Members

Breathe Better Network Core Members