Air Ambulance

We had a presentation in February from a volunteer with the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance. We were fascinated to hear all the details of what it takes to keep the two helicopters, all the equipment, the onboard doctors and the paramedics flying an average of 5 missions every day – a staggering £5 million per year. The only help they get from the government is the loan of the paramedics, all the rest has to come from fund raising. We learned the benefits of being able to effectively bring an A&E to a crash site, with them being able to get to most scenes within half-an-hour – they’ve even done emergency surgery at the roadside in dire circumstances! The group officially gave the Air Ambulance a donation of £25 and a tin was passed around for members to put money in if they wished. We have since received a Thank You letter from the trust, they are very grateful because in all we raised over £90 for them. Proof, I think, of how important we all consider the service to be.

Hypnotherapy

The group started the year well, in spite of all the rain, with a talk from Michelle Wakerell, a local clinical hypnotherapist. Michelle spent much of the meeting de-bunking the myths about hypnotherapy and reassuring us that hypnosis can’t make you do things you don’t want to do. Michelle explained that, although she is also a registered psychotherapist, she finds great success using hypnotherapy for ‘fixing’ behaviours that are detrimental to us. Particularly successful examples are smoking cessation, weight loss and panic attacks. Michelle described being hypnotised as being in an altered state of consciousness, a bit like when you’re nodding off in an armchair or concentrating so hard on something you block out all other noises or things around you. She assured us that there is nothing to fear and that the client is aware of what is going on at all times. Many behaviours like nail biting or smoking are as a result of unconscious thoughts or feelings, often formed when we are children, and the beauty of hypnotherapy is that it speaks directly to the unconscious. The other good thing is that, unlike traditional counselling, hypnotherapy can help in a short number of treatments. Michelle said that smoking cessation can sometimes be successful after just one session and something like weight loss could take 5 or 6 sessions. The key thing though is that the person has to really want it otherwise it won’t be effective. The group seemed really interested and asked lots of questions, including whether it is available on the NHS – at the moment it isn’t although another short-term form of therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (also good for things like anxiety and panic attacks) is.

Christmas Lunch 2013

We certainly finished last year in style with our most successful Christmas Lunch to date. Forty people, including Michaela and Anne from the Respiratory Team, came along to The Royal in Tankerton to celebrate, enjoy the food and generally kick off the festive season. To help things along we had a successful raffle which raised £73 and a competition as well. Linda had challenged us to convert an old BLF T-shirt into something else and there were 4 entries for this: a door-stop doll, a trophy, a cute snowman and a bobble hat. Michaela judged the entries and declared the bobble hat the winner. Jim provided a ‘Pointless’ prize which was well received.

Tai Chi

Our November meeting was a popular one with several new people joining the group. Local Tai Chi practitioner Jack Kenny told us about the history and benefits of Tai Chi. He was most entertaining and got the group doing some gentle arm movements while he explained how it can help all sorts of conditions. Jack can be contacted on 01227 272304.

AGM and Bingo

In October we had our AGM where we discussed events of the past year and came up with some ideas for the next year. We elected our new committee who are: Carol Hakimian – Chairperson and Treasurer; Rosemary Barden – Secretary; Jim Harris – Publicity Officer; Chris Moore – Minute Secretary and two new committee members Chris Bennett and Linda Hurst. ‘Thank you’ to Janet Curtis and Brenda Biggs for their work on the committee last year. Loraine and Bill Church are continuing to sort out the refreshments and Laurie and Linda will continue with the Bring & Buy – both essential parts of the meetings and much appreciated. We followed the formal business of the AGM with a few games of Bingo courtesy of Karen Cotter which was good fun.

Inhalers

Last month Kiri Moseley from the Respiratory Team gave us an enlightening talk on getting the best out of your inhaler. Kiri first gave us a reminder about the structure of the lungs and how they work. She then went on to emphasize the importance of using inhalers properly. Her tips include: Shake the inhaler before each use – this ensures the propellant is evenly distributed and works properly Breathe out whilst shaking, put the inhaler in your mouth, then gently and slowly press the button/canister (as appropriate) whilst breathing in. If you have difficulty activating your inhaler there are alternate makes or aids available to make it a bit easier. Allow 30 seconds between puffs Rinse your mouth or have a drink of water after using an inhaler containing a steroid With a volumatic spacer: shake the inhaler and place in the hole, breathe right out into the volumatic, press the inhaler once then gently breathe in and out 5 times If using a spacer it is important to wash it monthly to keep it clean and to avoid residue build up. Air dry it rather than using a cloth. Replace every 6-12months. And Kiri says they can be put in a dishwasher. Jim Harris, also has a tip to work out when your unmetered inhaler is empty: weigh it! Jim says a full Ventolin inhaler (canister only) weighs about 34grams and an empty one about 16grams. Of course you need accurate scales to weigh them on and should weigh each one when full in case of variation – but if you’re not sure how long one has been in use and whether or not it’s still got anything left in it (other than propellant), then this could help you figure it out.

Strawberries and Summer Bonnets

We had a very jolly and successful Strawberry Tea in July with lots of things going on. The tables were beautifully decorated with posies of flowers along with plates of scones, strawberries and lots of cream, all of which added to the atmosphere. As well as the tea we had a fun game courtesy of Jim – a race on his sound and light machine with some fun prizes for the best 3 competitors. We also had a decorated summer bonnet competition and some excellent entries for that. The hat decorations were very varied and included fruit, flowers, cocktail umbrellas, and miniature ‘windmills’ to give a few examples. The winning hat however was strikingly decorated by Janet Curtis with lovely shells and had a band around it saying ‘she sells sea shells at the sea shore.’

We also had some visitors to our tea – Joanne came from the British Lung Foundation to give us an update. The BLF is having to streamline and Joanne, along with the other Development Officers, are losing their jobs. Joanne was starting a new job the following week so it gave us the chance to say farewell to her. The Breathe Easy network will be supported in future by a team in Liverpool known as BLF Direct. Our other visitors were Karen Cotter from the Pulmonary Rehabilitation team and two new members of the team - Carol the Rehab team’s new secretary and Anita the new Specialist Respiratory Nurse who will be based in Faversham. We rounded the afternoon off with a raffle which raised a much appreciated £35.