Christmas Lunch 2008

Once again a good time was had by all..

Christmas photos

Quiz Night Nov 29th 2008

For the second time this year our Quizmaster Tony Newington agreed to donate his time to help us raise some money. Due to the time of year we had a lower attendance but those that went had a really good time as usual and we raised just over £200 to be split between our group and the British Lung Foundation.

November 12th 2008

Dr. Simon Dunn a GP from Herne Bay with a special interest in respiratory disease talked to us about coping with difficult weather conditions and to tell us about an 'early warning' service available from the Met Office and a pilot programme in the area where COPD patients were notified about expected cold spells and reminded to stock up on their inhalers. There was a fair bit of interest in this and it turned out that a couple of our members were involved in the pilot, so Dr. Dunn was keen to receive feedback from them.

Also at the meeting I made a presentation to Mollie of two portable Nebulisers purchased with a donation received in memory of Mr. Cyril Flavell. These portable nebulisers will be available to the Whitstable & Tankerton Respiratory team patients for loan for holidays and days out etc..

AGM

At the AGM on October 8th 2008, the Breathe Easy Canterbury and District group said a sad farewell to Mollie Jackson who is standing down as Chair, having held the position since the group began in 2003. Mollie has been responsible for starting and building up the group since its launch and has been a constant inspiration and charismatic presence. She is leaving the Specialist Respiratory Team based at the Whitstable and Tankerton Hospital, to take up an important post at the British Lung Foundation as Nurse Programme Manager.

Although we are very proud of her, we will miss Mollie enormously but we are very pleased to welcome Karen Cotter as our new Chair. Karen works as secretary to the Specialist Respiratory Team and has also been associated with the Breathe Easy group since its inception so she is a very fitting replacement for Mollie.

Following Secretary Rosemary Barden and Treasurer Carol Hakimian’s annual reports, and election of officers, the group relaxed with a bingo session.

September 2008

September’s meeting continued the theme of managing breathlessness with Dr. Sharief from the International Art of Living Foundation telling us about the course the Foundation runs about breath and breathing. Dr. Sharief described how emotions are closely linked to breathing and how breathing changes, for instance, if we are angry. She believes that we can breathe out the toxins that cause disease and showed us one of the exercises included in this course, the ‘bellows breath’ which we all tried to much laughter.

The foundation’s courses use breathing techniques to help deal with negative emotions such as stress and anger, and to create energy so often lacking in people with COPD. Another important aspect of these breathing techniques, says Dr. Sharief, is their ability to treat depression, which many COPD patients suffer from. Dr. Sharief is hoping to run a course in Whitstable in the near future.

August 2008

Siobhan Philpott and Victoria Pike, specialist physiotherapists from the East Kent Respiratory Team gave an excellent presentation on Managing Breathlessness and the benefits of exercise. They showed us many ways to help bring breathlessness under control. For those who missed the talk the team have a booklet available with photos of all the positions they showed us.

The presentation also gave tips on how to avoid panic attacks which fear of suffocation often brings on. The group took full advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and share concerns, one reason, of course, why the group’s existence is important to so many lung disease patients.

Stawberry Tea

Vast amounts of fresh strawberries, home made scones and cream were consumed at Carol's. Due to incessant rainfall the venue had to be moved into the house this year with twenty two people squeezed into three different rooms it managed to be both cosy and festive.

Spirits remained high in spite of the weather but the group was sad to note the loss of members who were present at last year’s tea – Ray Allard, Jim Taylor and very recently Terry Gaiger (whose family and friends were a large part of this year’s quiz night).

We had a number of visitors though namely, Hannah Tucker, the British Lung Foundation’s south-east region development officer, two members of the Thanet Breathe Easy group, and Daniel and Julie Kelly who are hoping to set up a new Breathe Easy support group in New Romney.

Strawberry Tea Photos

Aloe Vera

On June 11th, aloe vera enthusiast Charlotte Reynolds came to speak to the group about the plant’s healing and health-giving properties. Representing the Forever Living Products company, she demonstrated aloe vera products, providing samples of various aloe vera juices for members to taste, and giving a good deal of anecdotal evidence as to their efficacy. Charlotte herself has found them helpful in reversing her own ill health and providing a renewal of energy.

Nicknamed the “burns plant”, aloe vera has a long history of medical use for healing purposes. It was first mentioned in a papyrus dated 1552BC; Cleopatra is said to have used it in her beauty regime and Mahatma Ghandi reputedly drank the aloe vera gel which is present inside the leaves during his fasting.

Having no resistance to frost, aloe vera is mostly grown overseas, though it is beginning to be grown here in polytunnels. A Breathe Easy member had grown her own indoors and had used the gel direct from the plant for healing cuts and burns. Members were particularly interested to hear Charlotte’s assertion that aloe vera can improve breathing by soothing the surfaces of bronchial membranes, and reducing the severity of spasm.

If you would like to contact Charlotte for more information please call our Secretary Rosemary on 01227 373080.

Outing To Goodnestone Park Gardens

Thirty-one members and guests joined us on the Coach trip on a warm, sunny afternoon to Goodnestone Park. The walled garden (the largest in the southeast) was glorious with many plants in early flower thanks to the hot start to May combined with the sheltered location. When we’d had enough of wandering the gardens we retired to the tea rooms and enjoyed tea with homemade cake. Somewhere in there a fair few managed to find time to buy some plants to take home and many of the remaining coach seats were occupied with glorious flowering Clematis.

tea, cakes and flowers

These photos were taken by our resident professional photographer Jean Fraser. We're lucky to have her as you can see.

Quiz Night 2008

On Saturday 10th May members, friends and family got together at Littlebourne Village Hall for our annual Quiz Night. We had 11 tables of 8 filling the hall and the excitement was almost fever pitch. Once again our Quizmaster, Mr. Tony Newington donated his time enabling us to raise funds of nearly £400 for the cause. The questions were an excellent mix on topics such as cartoon characters and bridges, with plenty that most people could answer and a selection that were a bit tougher and really tested the memory.



We provided bread, cheese, pate and crisps and people brought their own wine or other drinks and many brought extra food too so there was quite a picnic. The money raised will be split between The British Lung Foundation and equipment for our Respiratory Team.

More Quiz Photos

Our Quiz Master Tony Newington, some more guests of various ages, plus the winning table.

April 9th – The British Lung Foundation

Hannah Tucker the new Southeast Development Officer from the BLF came to introduce herself and give us a talk about the latest news from the BLF, the ways in which the BLF is able to support us as a group and also told us about where the money that is raised goes to. Of the money our group send to the BLF half of it goes towards research grants and half of it goes towards providing specialised Respiratory Nurses for areas of the country that don’t have one – both very worthwhile causes I hope you’ll agree. Now that Hannah’s gotten to know us we’re hoping she’ll be back for some of our other events.

March 12th - Beetle Drive

This was a fun afternoon with frantic dice throwing and strange looking beetles being drawn. We had a half a dozen games with the winner of each table moving on to the next table which meant that people got a chance to talk to pretty much everyone. We also had half a dozen Easter Eggs to be won which was an added bonus!

FEBRUARY 2008

In February Jean Fraser, who’s not only our Press Officer but also a photographic artist, gave us a presentation of her project – Drawing Breath: A Coastal Pushbike Journey. Jean completed the first stage of this project last summer, cycling round the coast from Whitstable to Hastings, with the aim of raising the profile of lung disease.

She had kept a photo-blog of the route and the people and groups she encountered on the way and presented this for members who do not have access to the internet. She also projected a new slide show of the route which has just been uploaded onto her website, www.drawingbreath.org.

Jean is now planning a group exhibition at the Horsebridge gallery in October this year, on the theme of breath and breathing and plans to involve the group in making self-portraits as part of this exhibition, for which she is currently seeking funding.

Jean was also supported on her journey by the Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust. Respiratory Team who kept in touch with Jean and monitored her lung condition at various points during the ride.

There was a lot of interest, particularly in the planned Horsebridge exhibition and it is hoped that members of the group will be able to support the exhibition.

January 2008

We started the year with a talk from Claire Doran, Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust coordinator of the NHS’s Expert Patient Programme. She told us about the course, which is free, for people who live with any kind of chronic or long-term illness. The course aims to empower patients and works through peer education – and is run by trained lay tutors who deal with chronic health problems in their own lives so they understand the day to day difficulties of living with chronic disease.

The courses which currently run in Sittingbourne, Thanet and Deal will shortly be starting up in Whitstable. During the seven two-and-a-half hour sessions, patients share symptoms and problems caused by their illnesses; there are exercise, breathing and relaxation sessions and participants make action plans to achieve things they have found difficult. Mutual encouragement helps with confidence and self-esteem, and patients learn together ways to communicate clearly with their GPs, explain their illness and associated needs to their family and friends, and generally to become their own advocates. Understanding how to make living wills is another aspect dealt with on the course.

An animated discussion followed Claire’s talk, with several Breathe Easy members interested in taking the course. It certainly seems to work: evidence from the course’s graduates show that they visit their GPs less, have less outpatient appointments, and fewer trips to accident and emergency. Course members often choose to stay in touch for friendship and support after their sessions have ended.

The Expert Patient programme was set up as a Department of Health initiative in 2002. Eastern and Coastal Kent is one of the first primary care trusts to have a full-time Expert Patient coordinator. Government targets aim for 120,000 people to have taken the course by 2010 so Claire will certainly have her work cut out in East Kent. People with chronic disease can be referred to the programme by their health practitioner or they can self-refer by telephoning Claire. This programme really is about doing it for ourselves.

Claire Doran, Expert Patient Coordinator, Eastern and Coastal Primary Care Trust: 01304 216857