Free Breathing Test for World Spirometry Day

Santa Barbara Pulmonary Consultants are participants in 2010: The Year of the Lung and World Spirometry Day, and will be performing free spirometry testing on Friday, October 15 from 1 to 5pm at their office at 2403 Castillo Street on the second floor of the Cottage Outpatient Surgery Building. No appointment is necessary. Call 805.898.8840 for any questions.

Led by the American Thoracic Society and the Forum of International Respiratory Societies, and here locally by Santa Barbara Pulmonary Consultants, 2010: The Year of the Lung is a global effort to unite health advocates in the field behind a single purpose: to convey the urgency of the threat that lung diseases pose to the public’s health and to galvanize support that will make a difference in hundreds of millions of lives by developing new prevention strategies and treatments.

Hundreds of millions of people struggle each year for life and breath due to lung disease, including tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia, influenza, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension, and more than 10 million die, and yet, the devastating impact of lung disease is unrecognized.

2010: The Year of the Lung aims to raise awareness about the importance of lung health, to generate social and political support for preventing and treating lung disease, and to increase public and private funding for lung research.

This year, Friday, October 15, 2010, has been planned as World Spirometry Day in Santa Barbara County. Spirometry is a simple, one-breath, breathing test that measures lung function and can easily determine whether a person has any predisposition to having lung disease. The test is recommended for people who are at risk for lung disease because of a personal smoking history, a history of exposure to second-hand smoke, a previous lung ailment, or a family history of lung disease. It is also recommended for people with symptoms that may be attributable to lung disease, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, or chest discomfort.

Please come test your lungs – for the breath of life.