World Spirometry Day 14th October 2010

Hamilton residents chose to make every breath count, at a mass lung screening event, part of a global public testing day to mark World Spirometry Day.  

Lions club volunteers

We enjoyed a hugely successful day on Thursday and judging by the early figures coming in a record-breaking number of spirometry tests were performed across Europe with 20,000 recorded in the 80 sites who have submitted data to date.

Lisa, Jessica and Vanessa setting up

The day was entertaining in the extreme, our first volunteer whilst she was giving a maximal effort shot her false teeth out onto the floor where she quickly retrieved them and continued on and this gentleman pictured below said he would have the test, provided he could keep his hat on and we had one woman who thought she was about to undergo an eye test! We shared the space in the Hub with the Thursday cake stall and the 2 gentleman running the stall provided us with hours of entertainment.

Patient having a test

The event, which was just one of 600 public lung tests being held across the globe, attracted a total number of 83 event participants and aimed to introduce more people to spirometric lung testing – the fastest and most accurate way to measure lung health and screen for potentially fatal diseases. 

Making every breath count

Spirometric lung function tests gives people invaluable early information about potentially fatal, but largely preventable, diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – an umbrella term for chronic bronchitis and emphysema, in which the airways to the lungs become narrowed.

Jessica and Irene at the information desk

 Having a spirometry test performed to screen for lung disease is recommended for those over 40 or current or former smokers. In a recent study, smokers with abnormalities on their lung function tests were at a higher risk of developing lung cancer.

In the 5 minutes it took to complete one lung health test, 150 people died of lung disease. Early screening and prevention is the only way individuals can begin to reverse this worrying statistic.

Thursday’s spirometry testing highlighted just how critical awareness, proper testing and early action are in helping people make every breath count.

Once I have crunched the data I will be able to report on our findings.

Vanessa