JIM Haswell joined the BREATH Program at Lions Gate Hospital in 1999.
He will enter his 13th year with the program in the new year when it resumes in January.
Education and maintenance are the cornerstones of the program, designed for people with chronic lung conditions.
Haswell joined to learn how to manage his asthma, brought on by years of exposure to fumes and dust on the job and a heavy cigarette habit. He stays because he likes it.
"I don't have to go but I do," he says. "I go for the exercise and for the companionship and the support. The program gives us strength in every way - from physical exercise to improving well-being and desire for living."
Born in Manchester, England in 1939, Haswell was orphaned at an early age and raised by his uncle in Sunderland, England.
"All the parents took me in," he says. "I remember good things: apples and oranges, going on summer holidays - sometimes three in one summer.
"We lived in row houses, 200 on our street and there were five streets just like ours."
The housing was known as Sunderland cottages and the streets were long streets. His family's area was known as Little Egypt because the streets had North African names like Cairo and TelelKebir, although theirs was named for Canon Cockin, a Victorian rector.
Like most of his mates, Haswell faced three options for his working future after leaving school at 15: to work underground in the coal mines; to live his days inside in a shop; or, to join the shipyards. In the mid-1950s, Sunderland was the largest shipbuilding town in the world. Haswell apprenticed as a fitter and turner or, in Canadian terms, a mechanic and machinist. However, he gave up building ships and went to sea with Britain's merchant navy. "I was seasick going down the Mersey River," he recalls, "and all the way to the Mediterranean and back. It took four voyages across the North Atlantic before I got it out of my system."
Haswell returned to dry land when he was hired on as port engineer for Vancouver Shipyards in North Vancouver in 1978. Twenty-one years later, Haswell was diagnosed with industrial asthma. The fumes, dust and other contaminants he encountered during his work on shore and at sea were endemic in the marine industry in those days. Smoking, too, was part of life back then.
Chronic pulmonary conditions rank with heart disease and cancer in terms of mortality, yet our awareness of the importance of protecting our lungs is low. We know about the dangers of smoking and second-hand smoke. We avoid working with toxic fumes in enclosed areas. We are only now learning about the consequences of breathing in dust and mould and second-hand fumes, both on the job and at home.
When we lose lung function, we don't get it back. In some cases, like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the condition is progressive. The good news is that most lung conditions can be stabilized with behavioral modification.
According to Eve Dedinsky, respiratory nurse clinician, Lions Gate Hospital's BREATH Program teaches people to manage their chronic condition. During the education phase - attendance twice a week for five weeks - participants learn to recognize their symptoms and apply what they've learned to reduce or avert a lung attack. The BREATH program team advises on nutrition and relaxation techniques, and provides exercises according to participants' abilities.
During the maintenance phase, the team continues to monitor participants. "It's gold standard treatment," says Dedinsky. "I've seen people come in with an oxygen tank and leave the program without it. They have the tools to manage their lung function."
The team will arrange additional assistance as required. "We can help with everything from getting a grab bar installed to organizing taxi savers," says Dedinsky.
"The BREATH program is a support to people," says Haswell. "I honestly believe that it kept me alive. I was in sad shape when I started back in 1999. It forced me to get out of the house and with its support I got over that. Now, I go to help myself and to help others. It helps me to give to people."
For more information about the BREATH Program at Lions Gate Hospital, call 604-988-3131, ext. 4940.
Laura Anderson works with and for seniors on the North Shore. Contact her at 778-279-2275 or email her at [email protected].
