Students help York residents to breathe easier with free lung tests
Students help York residents to breathe easier with free lung tests
Staff and students at York St John University offered free lung tests to York residents to mark World Spirometry Day in June.
Lung disease is among the leading causes of death across the globe, and numbers are rising mainly due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer and tuberculosis.
The Harsh reality is that one person dies every 20 minutes from COPD in England and Wales, that’s around 25,000 people per year, making it the UK’s fifth biggest killer disease. However, many lung diseases are preventable, or could be better controlled at an early stage if diagnosed or detected via spirometry testing.
Paul Humphrey, lecturer in Physiotherapy at York St John University, is a specialist in this area having worked as a clinical specialist respiratory physiotherapist prior to his role in higher education. Paul held a variety of senior physiotherapy positions in the critical care setting and the respiratory care of the chronically ill patient. Paul said: “COPD is one of the country’s hidden killers. In Yorkshire and the Humber it is estimated that 43% of COPD sufferers remain undiagnosed, there are also significant numbers of misdiagnosis.
“Our aim was to raise awareness of spirometry testing and to encourage York residents to get checked. Early diagnosis can have a huge impact on a patient’s life as it enables them to manage their condition themselves and get the treatment they need, this can include appropriate medication, exercise and physiotherapy to limit the course of the lung disease and breathlessness and improve quality of life and exercise capacity.”
Physiotherapy students from York St John University ran the event with lecturer Paul Humphrey. If the test results raised concern, participants were given a letter to take to their doctor. YSJActive, the University’s sport, exercise and wellbeing department will also be available to offer free lifestyle advice. Paul added: “We wanted to encourage as many people as we could to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle; it’s something the students are very passionate about. Physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. People with lung problems often fear that exercise will make breathlessness worse, but regular physical exercise is proven to be the best treatment.”
