The alarm being sounded about Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or C-O-P-D by the New Brunswick Lung Association.
The Director of Health Promotion for the Lung Association, Barbara Walls, who’s also a registered nurse, says 55 thousand New Brunswickers, overwhelmingly smokers, have been diagnosed with C-O-P-D but there could be more thanj 27 thousand others who are indiagnosed. This is why the Lung Association is urging smokers and former smokers alike to get tested because there are treatments available.
Walls says a chronic cough and shortness of breather are not part of normal aging.
Walls also telling us C-O-P-D is the number one cause of hospital admissions in Brunswick and costs the healthcare system 23 million dollars a year.
