Madrid, April 20, 2020. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) is the fourth leading cause of death in Spain, with more than 3 million people affected and an underdiagnosis of almost 80%. Today, COPD is a serious public health problem. In general, the co-morbidity and mortality associated with this pathology is unknown, but it is known that alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency (DAAT) is a genetic condition associated with COPD.

Patients with COPD suffer a great decrease in quality of life, having repercussions at the work and social level, and they are a group that is especially vulnerable to COVID-19, due to several factors:

• The lack of knowledge of these patients in relation to preventive and care measures against possible infections or complications.

• The misinformation or unreliability of advice on how to handle the situation from home, being almost prohibitive to go to health centers during this period of time with overload.

• The saturation of consultations (face-to-face/by telephone) in clinical services to resolve recurrent doubts about their treatment and care or appointments that are impossible to guarantee.

The Lovexair Foundation

Lovexair is a respiratory patient-focused, not-for-profit organization dedicated to empowering and improving your quality of life as well as supporting the healthcare professionals who care for you. It is an umbrella foundation that carries out support actions for different diseases, including COPD.

Part of its mission is to make access to the HappyAirCommunity available to any patient, association or group on social networks. This community is a support space designed to facilitate enrollment in a comprehensive care plan from anywhere. The patient is guided by a coach, who is a health professional trained in respiratory health online and can guide the patient and accompany him in adapting his lifestyle and activity for his own benefit.

During the current crisis, these resources are essential to care for the patient through tele-health services that minimize contagion while avoiding the collapse of the health system.

The Association of COPD Patients (APEPOC)

APEPOC's main mission is to defend the rights of COPD patients. All the actions carried out by this association aim to improve the quality of life of patients with COPD.

To do this, its course of action has two lines: on the one hand, assistance services for associates, and on the other, the dissemination of the disease as a measure of pressure on administrations to invest in quality of life for COPD patients.

Due to the limited knowledge regarding COPD, the problem of misdiagnosed disease is presented, often confused with other pathologies such as asthma. That is why it is also an aim to train the greatest number of health professionals.

A shared mission

Lovexair and the COPD Patients Association (APEPOC) share a mission: to provide resources that improve the quality of life of these patients, the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases and to accompany COPD patients, their relatives in their environment to throughout his illness.

Both with different projects underway join their efforts to provide better care to this group of patients, offering services and support in a coordinated manner.

The Association of Epoc Patients (APEPOC) is carrying out the #Covid19yEPOC project, collecting testimonies and experiences of confinement experienced by patients and their environment. 

The collaboration between the Lovexair Foundation and APEPOC allows advance the free registration to the #Pioneers program of a number of patients with COPD or family caregivers, in the national territory, during this complicated period for chronic respiratory patients.

At Lovexair, the online project #HappyAir Pioneers has been developed, a support program and care plan for patients with COPD (link to the documentation or pdf included)

Each patient will have a coach, a respiratory physiotherapist trained in online health by the Lovexair Foundation, for 6 months and will receive their support throughout this period to learn how to manage their symptoms, maintain consistency in their care plan and follow a active life from home and will be accompanied by video-conference, by phone or tablet when you need support.

#Pioneers HappyAir has the social endorsement of the Scientific Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) and the Primary Care Respiratory Group (GRAP). There is a clinical supervisory team that will guide this project.

From Lovexair, the resources of the HappyAir Community are made available to those who need it at this time. On the one hand, the HappyAir Community coaches answer questions about respiratory diseases and covid19 on the CONCIENCIA line. And on the other, they are offered to carry out monitoring at home in the care of any patient who requires it, whatever their respiratory pathology.

To supply these human resources to all the people who need them, the Lovexair Foundation calls for the solidarity of the population to support the group of people with respiratory diseases, who are a group at risk. For this reason, we make a call to establish alliances and create a support network, be it through adhesion, donations and even sponsorship, which will allow us to carry out the accompaniment of the largest number of patients possible during the confinement due to COVID-19 and the following months.