Kate Watts (75) from Hibaldstow, is living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is the name of a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties.
People with lung problems often feel short of breath. Many daily tasks can make you breathless, such as walking, getting dressed or doing jobs around the house. Being breathless can make you panic, or feel frightened. It can sometimes feel as though your breathlessness controls you, but with the right support, this doesn’t need to be the case.
Kate recently took part in Lindsey Lodge’s Breathe Easy Enablement Programme (BEEP), which supports patients diagnosed with progressive lung disease to participate in exercise, learn about their condition and how to self-manage at home. It focuses on providing personalised supportive care to enable them to ‘live well’ with their condition.
Here Kate tells us now she has benefitted from BEEP:
“I was very apprehensive about starting this course. After shielding as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic for over two years, it was a large step for me to re-join the world outside my home and family.
“I also associated Lindsey Lodge solely with end of life care, but this most certainly wasn’t the case. I would happily say that actually BEEP gave me a new lease of life, and I would encourage anyone with a chronic condition like COPD to accept the help of Lindsey Lodge.
“I’ve enjoyed meeting new people, that have a shared experience, and through these connections I was reminded to embrace opportunities and make the best of my situation.
“The presentations were well delivered, at a good pace, and the content was very interesting, informative and relevant to my circumstances.
“Most of all, I have benefited from the rehabilitation exercises. The sessions are appropriately paced and adaptable to individual needs, and the staff were very motivating to ensure each participant achieved the maximum to improve their capacity and stamina. There was time for a warm up and cool down and recovery time between each exercise activity.
“I would highly recommend the exercise rehabilitation course, even after the first session I could appreciate the benefits of the course. If you commit to the course, the highly professional staff at Lindsey Lodge will do their best to ensure you reap the benefits.
“I feel more confident going out to small social events with family and my walking capacity has improved. My family and friends have complimented me on my improved health and wellbeing. Thank you very much Sally and your team!
