Respiratory Community News

Christchurch COPD exercise and coffee groups build community

Volunteer-run exercise and social groups are providing vital services to people with respiratory conditions in Christchurch.

Pauline Mohi, who lives with COPD, set up the first group six years ago after completing the eight-week Better Breathing course for COPD run through the Canterbury Clinical Network. “I became a volunteer on the course, and I realised that I needed to keep up the rewards of all I had learnt, so I set up an exercise and coffee group for people with breathing problems,” she explains.

The first group was based at the CanBreathe (Canterbury Asthma Society) rooms and offered a mix of exercise, socialising and information to participants. “We exercised to music for half an hour using Thera bands, hand weights, balls, bean bags and scarves. Before COVID struck, we used the next hour for guest speakers and anything people wanted to hear about, as well as enjoying bikkies, coffee and sometimes home baking,” says Pauline.

Over the years, the group has had speakers on a wide variety of topics including health, gardening, home heating and legal issues, and they have completed two first aid courses.

The success of this model is clear; Pauline has gone on to set up three more exercise and coffee groups and further, two are run by different volunteers in other areas of Christchurch.

“The groups serve both our physical and mental wellbeing. Most of us believe that coming to the groups has kept us out of hospital and many say they couldn’t imagine their lives if they didn’t come to the group. We have great fun,” says Pauline.

COVID has meant that the groups haven’t been able to host guest speakers recently, but Pauline says that instead they have drawn on the expertise of participants. “There is a wealth of knowledge that we have on all types of subjects, so we share. Our coffee and chats are fantastic.”

Farewell to Sheryl Long

Sheryl Long

The Waikato respiratory community is farewelling long-term asthma advocate and educator, Sheryl Long, who is moving on from her role as Asthma Waikato General Manager.

Over her six years heading the society, Sheryl has helped hundreds of families and transformed the society into a well-oiled machine. She says the biggest rewards have been receiving feedback from families who have benefitted from the service and being there for “penny drop moments” with clients.

“When you see that someone understands what asthma is and what the medicine does, that is really satisfying,” she explains.

Sheryl says her approach to asthma education has been to focus on “the why” of asthma care. “I think if people understand the why, they will be more willing to comply. So, for example instead of simply saying, you need to shake your inhaler before you use it, it’s important to explain that it’s because you need to mix the medicine and aerosol together first, otherwise you’ll just get one or the other, which doesn’t work. People get that and are therefore more likely to do it.”

This understanding came from her own journey with a daughter who had severe asthma as a preschooler. “I was that Mum who didn’t get it. I didn’t understand that asthma could be well-managed and not interfere with day-to-day life,” she recalls. Over time, she learnt more about asthma management, including the importance of preventer inhalers. As she began to see her daughter’s asthma improve dramatically, Sheryl was inspired to share that knowledge and to let others know that asthma is not a life sentence, and in fact, uncontrolled asthma can have serious consequences.

“For me that’s the biggest thing. Asthma is simply a glitch in the body. All it means is that you’ve got airways that are overly sensitive. For the vast majority of sufferers, asthma is manageable and preventable. You don’t just have to bear it. You can live a full life.”

After many years in asthma care, Sheryl identifies the biggest challenge as the inconsistency of information provided to people with asthma. “They are told one thing by the hospital, another by the GP, then there are different instructions sometimes with the medications. It is really difficult for people to know what to do and it’s beyond frustrating for us when we are trying to help them.” She also points to regional inequity around funding as a major barrier to offering asthma services.

Asthma Waikato have appointed Julie Rangitaawa as the new General Manager.

She will begin her role on 12 September 2022.