TOP NEWS
Protecting Health from Wildfire Smoke and Extreme Heat: Wildfires in Canada have continued to blanket parts of the country in unhealthy and even hazardous levels of air pollution. The Lung Association has tips for how people can protect themselves from wildfire smoke. Learn more at Lung.org/wildfires. We also have tips to help protect your health from dangerous summer heat waves.
Important Enhancement to Our Website: On June 22, we rolled out important enhancements to our website, Lung.org. The enhancements will help ensure all potential users of our website, including those living with disabilities, have a good user experience and are able to access its content. By clicking an “accessibility” button on Lung.org, users will be given a menu of options that allows them to enable several accessibility features, such as dyslexia-friendly font options, contrast adjustments, text size and spacing modifications, and the ability to pause animations. This is an important step on our journey toward becoming a more inclusive and accessible organization for everyone along the continuum of human experience and ability. You will also see similar changes reflected on most of our event websites in the coming months.
New on Lungcast™: For our latest Lungcast™ episode, Dr. Carolyn Presley of Ohio State University speaks with us about the rapidly changing landscape of lung cancer detection and treatment. As a geriatric expert, she provides a poignant point-of-view on the need for a multidisciplinary approach to patient care. Video highlights from this episode—and more—can be found on the YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@Lungcast.
SUPPORT THE LUNG ASSOCIATION
Make a Difference with a Vehicle Donation: Did you know that you can donate a vehicle to the Lung Association? Your donation will provide funding for important research, education and advocacy that can help save lives. Learn more about our Vehicle Donation Program. Donating is easy with free pick-up and support – in fact, each vehicle donation is tax deductible!
LUNG CANCER
Celebrating One Million Saved By The Scan Quiz Completions: This month, we celebrated the groundbreaking milestone of 1million lung cancer screening eligibility quiz completions for the Saved By The Scan campaign. Since we launched Saved By The Scan in 2017 in partnership with the Ad Council, lung cancer screening rates among those eligible have increased by more than 170%. You can view a special video celebrating this breakthrough from our National President and CEO Harold Wimmer.
RESEARCH
Research News: Clearing the Air—Linking Air Pollution to Non-Smoking Lung Cancer: A recent study in Nature linked environmental air pollutants to trigger the development of cancer from mutated cells in otherwise healthy lung tissue. These findings are important to understand how lung cancer develops in people who never smoke and provides evidence for stronger public health policies to address air pollution. This study was funded by the Stand Up To Cancer‐LUNGevity-American Lung Association Lung Cancer Interception Dream Team Translational Research Grant. Stay up to date with Lung Association-funded research at lung.org/research-news.
Overcoming Resistance: New Study Amplifies Effectiveness of Platinum Chemotherapy: Cancer researchers have just published a new study developing a method to improve the effectiveness of platinum chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. This is important because many cancers develop resistance to platinum chemotherapy, including lung cancer, so this finding will improve survival outcomes. Researcher Lingtao Jin was funded by the Lung Association Innovation Award for their work in immunotherapy in lung cancer.
PATIENT SUPPORT
Newly Diagnosed with an Interstitial Lung Disease Webinar: July 25, 3 p.m. CT
Register now to attend this July 25 webinar. Learn from both Erica Farrand, MD, UCSF, and Laura R., a patient living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This presentation will cover topics such as diagnosis, symptoms, management and treatment options, and a review of Lung Association resources. You may also register now for a follow-up course, Living with ILD webinar, scheduled for October.
Awareness, Trust, and Action – The Importance of Lung Cancer Clinical Trials - While advancements in early detection and treatment have improved the overall five-year survival rate to 25%, not all communities share this improvement. One of the main reasons for this is mistrust and under representation in clinical trials. Hear stories from members and leaders of the community such as Danielle Mitchell, founder and CEO of Black Women in Clinical Research, Edward W., husband, and lung cancer survivor, Bishop Jeffery Goldsmith of Emmanuel Tabernacle Church in Oklahoma City. They share their perspectives on the importance of clinical trials. Visit Lung.org/Trials-and-You to learn more.
Support for this program provided in part by Daiichi Sankyo, Genentech, Merk, Novartis, and Novocure.
LUNG ACTION NETWORK
Help Protect Healthcare Coverage: Our monthly newsletter calls on Secretary Becerra to require corrective action be taken and pause loss of coverage for people living in states with high disenrollment rates. More than 1.5 million people have lost access to their Medicaid healthcare coverage as a result of the end of the COVID-19 healthcare protections. Many of these individuals lost their coverage not because they were no longer eligible, but simply because of administrative paperwork issues. We need your help in telling Secretary Becerra to use his authority to protect patients who cannot afford to lose coverage.
EACH BREATH BLOG
How to Create a Clean Room to Help Protect Against Wildfire Smoke – With wildfire season well underway, local officials may suggest limiting your time outdoors if the air quality index shows that the smoke is making the air unhealthy.
Your support makes all we do possible!
Your generous support is the engine that drives our three-pronged mission of education, advocacy and research. Out of every dollar donated to the American Lung Association, 90 cents go to program services that help all of us and our loved ones breathe easier, now and in the future!
Blog last updated: August 25, 2023
