COPD should be takes seriously
Editor:
It affects one in five U.S. adults over 45 and an estimated 24 million Americans, yet as many as half of victims remain undiagnosed. It is called COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and it is the third leading cause of death in the United States. COPD is a serious lung disease that over time makes it hard to breathe.
This November, National COPD Awareness Month, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the American Lung Association in West Virginia asks people to take the first step to fight this disease by learning more about COPD. All too often, signs of COPD are ignored. Symptoms such as frequent shortness of breath, chronic cough, wheezing and excessive phlegm come on slowly. These symptoms are often mistaken as normal signs of aging or being out of shape. If left untreated, people with COPD gradually lose their stamina and their ability to perform daily activities.
The good news is that with early diagnosis and treatment, people with COPD can improve and get back to the things they love doing.
If you are a current or former smoker, have had long-term exposure to things that can irritate the lungs, or have certain genetic conditions, you could be at risk for COPD. If you are experiencing symptoms, talk to your health-care provider and ask for a simple breathing test called spirometry. To find out more about COPD, visit COPD.nhlbi.nih.gov.
Christine Compton
American Lung Association in West Virginia
Charleston
Local hotel gouged people during storm
Editor:
It was a delight to read that the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island allowed Hurricane Sandy homeless citizens to remain in their hotel rooms when the New York Marathon runners came calling.
This was in contrast to one of Charleston's large downtown hotels that stiffed locals who lost their electric power with the storm.
I have a good friend in his 80s suffering with Parkinson's disease, whose wife had to pay twice the normal room fee for just a normal room. They wouldn't even give the normal AARP discount. So much for "corporate citizenship" here in Charleston.
Charleston's mayor and council need to pass a "no gouging law," if there isn't one on the books -- and if there is one, the city needs to enforce it when we have these ever-increasing disasters.
Ted Lanham
Charleston
Don't listen to right-wing lamebrains
Editor:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Thanks to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage and the rest of the lamebrain media. President Obama couldn't have won re-election without their help. Racism, bias and hatred which clouded their opinions didn't work.
The cultist followers of the above can turn their talk radio and cable TV stations off, chill out and cheer up. Listen to some music.
The rabble-rousers in the lamebrain media will start right in on the mid-term election. The time to stop the discourse in America is now.
Congress has been put in the position by the people in a Democratic election giving President Obama four more years. His plan was put forth in every debate -- $3 of spending cuts for every $1 in tax raises for $250,000-a-year earners and up.
Gridlock is over. Bipartisanship is a must.
It would be in the senators' and representatives' best interest to do what they were sent to Washington to do. Stay off the morning and evening TV shows and do their jobs.
It should be an insult to one's intelligence to let a talk radio or cable TV jock influence Congress or listeners in any way.
Sorry, we're not Greece as Hannity preaches his doom and gloom version of America or the European Union and will never be.
Steve Kopa
Weirton
Why all the power outages now?
Editor:
Well, here we go again. I have been two days without power and water. I had electricity in the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s and wasn't without power. I never cleaned out my refrigerator and freezer and threw out all my food because it was ruined. I never owned a generator, didn't need one. I had power. I never knew anyone who owned a generator or backup heat unless they had a camp up in the mountains.
I know its been said we shouldn't go back into the past. But where the power company is concerned, it may not be a bad idea to review what the power company was doing then to keep our power on. Did we have storms then? Did we have snow then? Sure did. I remember winters when it would start snowing in November and we wouldn't see the ground again until March. But we had power.
Then came the 1990s and the power outages. Had to buy generators and backup heat. Lanterns, candles, batteries, water, replace all the food we lost. Wind-up clocks, coolers and ice to try to keep what food we can. Come on, power company. Get it fixed. Or let's go back to oil lamps and wood burners. At least we would have light and heat.
Stella Means
Clendenin
COPD should be takes seriously
Editor:
It affects one in five U.S. adults over 45 and an estimated 24 million Americans, yet as many as half of victims remain undiagnosed. It is called COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and it is the third leading cause of death in the United States. COPD is a serious lung disease that over time makes it hard to breathe.
This November, National COPD Awareness Month, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the American Lung Association in West Virginia asks people to take the first step to fight this disease by learning more about COPD. All too often, signs of COPD are ignored. Symptoms such as frequent shortness of breath, chronic cough, wheezing and excessive phlegm come on slowly. These symptoms are often mistaken as normal signs of aging or being out of shape. If left untreated, people with COPD gradually lose their stamina and their ability to perform daily activities.
The good news is that with early diagnosis and treatment, people with COPD can improve and get back to the things they love doing.
If you are a current or former smoker, have had long-term exposure to things that can irritate the lungs, or have certain genetic conditions, you could be at risk for COPD. If you are experiencing symptoms, talk to your health-care provider and ask for a simple breathing test called spirometry. To find out more about COPD, visit COPD.nhlbi.nih.gov.
Christine Compton
American Lung Association in West Virginia
Charleston
Local hotel gouged people during storm
Editor:
It was a delight to read that the Hilton Garden Inn in Staten Island allowed Hurricane Sandy homeless citizens to remain in their hotel rooms when the New York Marathon runners came calling.
This was in contrast to one of Charleston's large downtown hotels that stiffed locals who lost their electric power with the storm.
I have a good friend in his 80s suffering with Parkinson's disease, whose wife had to pay twice the normal room fee for just a normal room. They wouldn't even give the normal AARP discount. So much for "corporate citizenship" here in Charleston.
Charleston's mayor and council need to pass a "no gouging law," if there isn't one on the books -- and if there is one, the city needs to enforce it when we have these ever-increasing disasters.
Ted Lanham
Charleston
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