Mission Moment May 2018

LUNG CANCER

Turning America Turquoise: LUNG FORCE's 2018 Turquoise Takeover celebration took the country by storm and raised critical awareness of lung cancer, the nation's leading cancer killer. From coast to coast, landmarks, TV anchors and LUNG FORCE supporters turned turquoise in support of our work to defeat lung cancer. We relied on the stories of LUNG FORCE Heroes, including Shantel VanSanten, to help change perceptions of lung cancer – and to help others know their risk and understand why new methods of early detection and treatment options are essential to save more lives.

Notable landmarks across the country were illuminated in our signature turquoise, including One World Trade Center, the Los Angeles International Airport pylons and the Ben Franklin Bridge in New Jersey.

With your passion and dedication, we are working to ensure that those diagnosed with lung cancer have a better quality of life and to one day find a cure for the disease.

LUNG FORCE Hero: This month's LUNG FORCE Hero, Lois L., is no stranger to lung cancer. Her mother died of lung cancer in 1997 and her cousin in 2007. Still, it was a shock when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2009. Read her story and you will understand even more why we're battling the leading cancer killer in America!

Spring is here. Let's Get Out and Walk to Cure Lung Cancer: LUNG FORCE Walks & Run/Walks raise awareness and funds to help defeat lung cancer and for lung health. Each dollar raised gets us closer to healthy lungs for everyone. Check out what Walks & Run/Walks are happening in your area and join our FORCE today!

RESEARCH

Diagnosing TB Earlier in Children: Tuberculosis (TB) is difficult to diagnose in children and treatment delays can lead to severe and fatal forms of TB. Because children often cannot cough up sputum for testing and often have TB that is undetectable with usual tests, clinicians must diagnose TB based on signs and symptoms. With funding from the American Lung Association, Molly Franke, ScD is conducting research to help us better understand missed diagnoses and treatment delays in pediatric tuberculosis.

ASTHMA

May is Asthma Awareness Month: Did you know that asthma affects 26 million Americans, including 6 million children? May is Asthma Awareness Month, and the American Lung Association offers support and a variety of tools to help manage this chronic lung disease.  Asthma Basics, our free interactive online course (now available in Spanish) is a great refresher designed to help people learn more about the disease. Our Pathways to Managing Asthma infographic is also a great resource to share along with our How Lung Friendly Is Your Workplace? infographic, which is designed to help adults living with asthma create asthma-friendly workplaces. And you can also ask questions and talk to a professional about asthma by calling our Lung HelpLine at 1-800-LUNGUSA.

Reducing Asthma-Related Emergency Room Visits: The Lung Association's six-year partnership with Health Care Service Corporation, the largest customer-owned health insurer in the U.S. was recognized in their 2017 Social Responsibility Report.  This just-released report highlights our 50 percent reduction in asthma-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations.  Thank you to Health Care Service Corporation for their continued commitment to people with lung disease.

TOBACCO

Helping Public Housing Go Smokefree: With the help of funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation our Smokefree At Home project in conjunction with Mental Health America will help public housing agencies (PHA) implement the U.S. Department of Housing HUD's smokefree housing rule, and ease the transition to a smokefree environment for public housing residents with behavioral health issues. The Lung Association is engaged in several other partnerships to help PHAs go smokefree. Watch for more news in the coming months.

ADVOCACY

Thank You Parents and Grandparents for Helping Us Defend the Clean Power Plan! Thanks to your help, we reached our goal of getting more than 4,500 parents and grandparents to sign our letter to support the Clean Power Plan, to represent the 4,500 lives the Plan would save every year once fully implemented. Thank you to every parent and grandparent who signed and spread the word! We submitted this letter, along with our Health Professionals Declaration on climate and health, to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to oppose their proposal to rescind the Clean Power Plan.

Polling Shows Overwhelming Public Support for Smog Limits: On April 24, we released new poll results showing that voters across the country overwhelmingly support EPA's enforcing stricter limits on air pollution, including the updated standards for ozone adopted in 2015. The results come as the Trump Administration is proposing that EPA dramatically weaken the implementation of air pollution health standards.

Protecting Healthcare for Patients with Pre-existing Conditions: Patients with pre-existing conditions, like lung cancer and COPD, need affordable, quality health coverage plans. If you haven't already taken action and asked your members of Congress to protect people with pre-existing conditions, there is still time to do so. This will send a message to your members of Congress, asking them to push back against a proposal that would permit insurance companies to offer substandard insurance policies and fail to protect the millions of American patients with pre-existing conditions.

EPA's Proposal to Censor Science: On April 24, EPA proposed a "censoring science" rule that would force the agency to ignore health studies showing the impacts of air pollution on patients. This proposal could permanently prevent EPA from setting air pollution standards that truly protect health. EPA is only collecting public comments through May 30, so the Lung Association (and many other organizations) have submitted a request that EPA accept comments for an additional 60 days and hold a public hearing. The Lung Association is coordinating among a wide group of health organizations to push back against this dangerous rule. See our press statement responding to the proposal here.

EACH Breath Blog

Your lungs are amazing and incredibly hard-working organs. But they are not immune to the passage of time. Learn more about how our lungs may change as we age, and how to keep them healthy, in our latest blog post, "Your Aging Lungs."

Everything we do is made possible because of our great supporters, like you! The lifesaving work of the American Lung Association researchers, volunteers and staff is only possible because so many generous donors across the country believe like we do that "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters!" If you would like to become more involved, we always have opportunities for those who share our passion for lung health to join in our work.