Julia runs a series of Pulmonary Rehab classes for people with COPD. Here she talks about what motivates her and what she’s learned about how people feel about living with breathing difficulties. Most importantly she emphasises that you only get out of a class what you’re prepared to put in.
Watch out half way through for guest appearances from several energetic members of Julia’s class 
Here’s a video interview I did with Val when we visited the Pulmonary Rehab class. I asked her to tell us a little about what living with her disease was like before coming to the classes, what the classes were like for her and how things have improved as a result.
I’ve cut the video down to the three and a half minutes, but we actually talked for more like ten. So I’ve made a podcast out of the audio from our chat so that you can hear more of the details of what Val had to say.
Either save the podcast to your computer by right clicking on the link or just click normally to play the file here.
Julia Bott is a Consultant Physiotherapist working in Surrey. We went to visit one of her Pulmonary Rehab classes and were treated first of all to a simple explanation of what COPD is and what’s going on inside the lungs. Whenever I watch it, I can’t help but sit up straight, breathe deeply and be grateful that I can fill my lungs easily.
The members of the class, while all having some breathing difficulties, were eager to impress on us the recovery that they’ve achieved through simple exercises complementary to their clinical treatments. There’ll be more of them here soon, but the trouble was not getting them to talk on camera, but getting them to stop talking once they’d started!
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which, as Julia explains covers a group of diseases such as chronic asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It is most frequently associated with people who have smoked, though it appears that there are also genetic factors and at least one member of the class said his illness was asbestos-related.
NHSDirect has an introductory article that goes into more detail.
Before we left St Peter’s on Falls Awareness Day Karen Turner, one of the Occupational Therapists, gave me a quick tour of the contents of her white van and I got to see lots of the equipment that people had been talking about all day including a Perching Stool and buried deep, lots of sticks (with nice new ferrules).
The Falls Team based at St Peter’s Chertsey regularly do Falls Awareness sessions to groups in the community. They have a standard presentation with some great visual aids which help people understand what they can do to reduce their risk of falling and to hear what sorts of help the health service provides.
Before they went out to talk the A2 Housing Group’s social club in the afternoon (with cream tea!) Anne Ralphson, Falls Co-ordinator and Sister Fiona Bird gave me some time to talk about what they do.
Fiona explained the work of the team, again emphasising the importance of maintaining independence and the sensitivity needed in dealing with people in their own homes. She also explains the large box of Quality Street on her shelf…
Anne took some coaxing to appear on camera, but I managed to get her to talk a little about the benefits to patients and why she’s proud of the service.
[OOOPS! apologies for getting names wrong on this one - the videos will be updated to be consistent as soon as possible - LD]
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