Breanne (Bre) Betts is the Acting Director of the Strategic Innovation & Modernization Branch at the Ministry of Children, Community & Social Services. She is an avid supporter of Federated Health, having worked as a volunteer for her branch & divisional campaign efforts in years past and now sitting as a members of both the OPS Advisory Committee & the Federated Health Board of Directors. Today, Bre is sharing why she is so passionate about this cause and how it hits much closer to home than you might expect.
Bre’s Story and her reasons to donate
When I joined the Ontario Public Service and was introduced to the Federated Health campaign, I was compelled to get involved. I saw a charity that supported many of the organizations that have played a significant role in my life. Specifically, one organization that actually changed my life, the Lung Health Foundation.
You see, I live with severe asthma. I have had this condition since birth and suffered through much of my childhood with it. Asthma is a condition that causes your airways to swell and narrow, rendering you unable to breathe properly. Because of my condition, I spent my childhood in and out of hospitals, dependent on breathing machines, gear, and medications, and still suffered tremendously. I was often unable to do the activities other kids were doing, knowing it could lead to a serious asthma attack.
This is where the Lung Health Foundation comes in. As a child experiencing this illness, what made it feel less scary were the people from the Lung Health Foundation. They became a critical support for me and my family. At every step of my asthma journey, the Lung Health Foundation was always there, helping me understand the health of my lungs, and what asthma was. I will never forget their posters (big, labelled pictures of lungs) at all my appointments, and the resources they produced to aid my doctor in working to support my fragile lung health. They ran a program out of my local public health unit, where I took part in a course to learn how to live effectively with asthma. This knowledge was a game-changer for me, as a young child, allowing me to live my life as normally as possible. The Lung Health Foundation created a safe, educational space where I learned to control the disease, take preventative steps, and understand how to manage through attacks.
I can’t thank the Lung Health Foundation enough for making me feel safe, understood, and connected, as a young child. As a mom to a three-year-old with severe asthma, I credit much of my “calm through the storm” approach to managing his asthma, to those amazing workers who supported me and helped me understand what I was dealing with.
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Related articles on reasons to donate:
Why I donate to the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy through Federated Health
