This year’s Federated Health Charities campaign runs from April 3, 2023, to June 30, 2023. During the campaign, we are highlighting how each of our 21 charities works to improve the health and well-being of people across our province.
The 15th charity we are highlighting as part of our 2023 campaign is the Lung Health Foundation. The Lung Health Foundation (formerly the Ontario Lung Association) has a history that goes back more than 100 years to its start caring for people with Tuberculosis. Today, the Lung Health Foundation is dedicated to ending the gaps in the prevention, diagnosis and care of lung disease in Ontario and across Canada.
The Lung Health Foundation works to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung diseases, focusing on asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. The Lung Health Foundation offers people living with lung disease “help and hope”. Help comes from the programs and support they provide people with lung disease and people who are seeking to improve or protect the health of their lungs. Hope comes from funding ground-breaking research to understand the causes of lung disease and improve diagnoses and treatments.
I definitely have limitations in what I can do.
This month, smoke from forest fires closed windows, playgrounds and businesses in large parts of Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern U.S. served as a stark reminder of how important clean air and healthy lungs are to our quality of life. The Lung Health Foundation estimates that at least one-in-five Canadians are affected by lung disease: more than 1-in-10 Ontarians are living with asthma today; as many as 2.6 million Canadians live with COPD; and 30,000 Canadians are diagnosed with lung cancer every year.
“We have a tremendous number of programs, but there is always a need for more,” says Chris Harmony, a certified respiratory therapist with the Lung Health Foundation. “There aren’t nearly enough programs for people.”
The Lung Health Foundation joined Federated Health Charities in 1984. Together, we are working for a world where everyone can breathe easier.
“It’s important to continue our partnership with Federated Health Charities because the money that it provides is very important for people in Ontario,” Chris says. “We’re able to provide more services for them, upgrade our resources, provide better web-based resources, provide counselling services, and even open up new programs.”
To learn more about the Lung Health Foundation, please visit Lung Health Foundation – Helping Canadians Breathe Easier.
To make a payroll pledge or donation to support the Lung Health Foundation and Federated Health Charities, please visit Federated Health Charities.
