To the editor:
How fortunate we are to have the Research Group at the School of Health and Exercise Sciences at UBC.
I have COPD with 35 per cent lung capacity left at age 72. I had difficulty getting my breath when I walked my puppy.
I was so lucky and am grateful to have been accepted for a program that studies the effects of exercise on the cardiovascular system in people with COPD. This study is being conducted by some really wonderful people at the Centre for the Heart Lung and Vascular Health and is supported by more wonderful people at the regional hospital.
After two months of exercise three times a week for about an hour each time, managed by exercise physiologists, my overall cardiovascular health has improved by an amazing 10 per cent.
I have so much energy and hardly lose my breath now.
Side benefits include pain reduction not related to the lungs and a much more positive outlook.
They did what medication can’t do—built stamina and taught me how to help myself.
I believe it has not only prolonged my life but gives me a quality of life I no longer had. Golfing again is pretty darn exciting.
Perhaps in the near future doctors will also prescribe exercise, managed of course, for folks with COPD and other ailments. I believe it will not only improve health but also reduce hospital emergencies and stays and therefore medical costs.
If people here have an opportunity to help Research Projects at UBC and to help themselves by participating, I sincerely hope they will.
Carol Jones,
West Kelowna
