MKE Fight For Air Climb-Discussion with The American Lung Association

Transcript

Chris: 0:00

Welcome to pulse check, Wisconsin.

0:41

Good morning. Good evening. Good afternoon. This is Dr. Ford With Pulse Wisconsin again. And as always, I want to thank you for joining us We have an excellent episode here for you today. Uh, we have two representatives from the American Lung Association here in the state of Wisconsin, and Amanda Judas who are going to talk to us today about An event that's upcoming in the city of Milwaukee, which is called the fight for air climb fight for air climb is brought to us by the American lung association. And the goal in this walk is to bring awareness to lung disease throughout our city, as well as our state and our country. This year the walk is going to be at four 11 East Wisconsin center and participants will be climbing 30 floors. This is not the first year that we've had this event and I'll let them explain a little bit more in detail as to how large this event is and how successful it has been in the past, but this event is co opted by our own community. Milwaukee fire department Uh, we have some representatives from the fire department who will be participating in the firefighters challenge, which Uh, danielle amanda will explain a little bit more as well But um just as some background the reason why I wanted to bring them on was to highlight this event Which is going on march 1st. So if you listen to this and you're interested definitely feel free to click Click on that link, um, that we will provide, uh, and participate because your funds, for fundraising for this event is going to go to a good place. And we are going to together tackle, the incidence of lung disease. Just as some background here in the United States, we see a large amount of adults as well as pediatric patients that suffer from lung disease. As an ER doctor, I see commonly effects of asthma, COPD, uh, as well, but we also are seeing some incidences of lung cancer, um, sarcoidosis, a lot of, um, lung diseases that are outside of that obstructive, asthma and COPD realm. Most recent data shows that 26. 8 million Americans have asthma, and that accounts for about almost 800, 000 emergency department visits both due to asthma as well as COPD. So this is something that is common. You likely know someone who has asthma as well as COPD. Here in the city of Milwaukee, a lot of attention is placed on the air quality We see a lot of pediatric patients who suffer from asthma and some of the work that I do, uh, with the Children's Health Alliance focuses solely, uh, in part on asthma, as well as, asthma readiness. Is your child going to be able to use their asthma action plan if they're having exacerbation as well as some preventative efforts that, uh, The American Lung Association is also working hand in hand with the Children's Health Alliance with as well. So a lot of good work to be done. However, with that being said, I want to make sure that we get to highlighting this amazing event. So feel free to welcome Danielle Rose and Amanda Judas. Well, thank you so much for coming out here today. I did a brief intro at the very beginning, just to talk about the program and talk about how important it is for the city of Milwaukee. But if you could, could you just give us a brief introduction of yourself and share the role that you have in the fight for air climb?

Danielle: 4:25

Yes, I am Danielle Rose. I am the development manager for the Fight for Air climb. Just started beginning, well, in July, and I manage the logistics and work with participants and, uh, just kind of organize and plan the climb.

Amamda: 4:41

And I serve as the development coordinator for the Lung Association in Wisconsin. I've been with the Lung Association for three years now. So this brings, um, it to my third climb.

4:53

Awesome. Awesome. For those that are not as familiar, can you give us a bit of an overview of what the fight for air climb is and how does it work? How do, how do, how do people interact when they get there?

Danielle: 5:05

Yeah, the fight for air climb is our biggest fundraising event for the American Lung Association in Wisconsin. People, uh, pay a registration fee and fundraise a minimum of 100, um, hopefully more, to participate in the climb where we climb inside of a building downtown, uh, Milwaukee.

5:28

All right. And, and, you know, we see different activities that, that are done, you know, I know they, American Cancer Association. They do some work as well. What makes stair climbing a meaningful and symbolic way to raise awareness for, for lung health,

Amamda: 5:43

yeah, well, the stair climb is unique. First of all, um, it's a great, uh, event to have in, in March, right? There's not a lot of marathons, running events. It is a professionally timed event, so people can take it seriously. Um, we do have race bibs. It is timed. Um, but one of the things that makes the stair climbing event unique and we talked to, uh, climbers about is, um, as you're going up the steps, right? You're, you're, you're having that exertion and may feel it's a little hard to catch your breath. Um, you might feel when you get to the top. Oh, I have a little bit of a burn in the lungs or some folks. I'm in the last just briefly, we usually have Jolly Ranchers up there by the elevator for them. And what we say is that that is just a small piece of what our folks who struggle with a form of lung disease may experience every moment of every day. So that makes it a great connection piece.

6:39

Yeah, and like you said, it kind of bringing it back to what the people who experience lung disease every day, what they are going through, and just putting yourself in those shoes really goes a long way in terms of advocacy, in terms of, you know, bringing more funding to the table to see how we can treat these events and put, you know, additional treatment in line and research. How has this event grown over the years? Danielle, before we came on, we talked a little bit about how many years this has been going on. How long has it been going on and how has it grown in terms of participation and fundraising?

Danielle: 7:12

The Milwaukee Fair climb has been going on for 17 years now, and, um, we're proud to say that our climb is, has been the top climb across the country, you know, over a lot of the other big markets out there for the past 12 years, we've been on top with participants and fundraising, and that just really goes to. Show the generosity of the Midwest, the greater Milwaukee area, where everyone is so generous and giving and supportive of the mission, you know, to, to help with those, the advocacy efforts to support research, education, and all of those great things that'll help, find some, you know, cures and treatments for lung disease and advocate for clean air and tobacco cessation, all the great things that the American Lung Association does.

8:03

And, and, you know, that brings up a good point too. I do work with, uh, walk with a doc MKE here where we just try to get people out and about and just to, you know, our saying is to walk towards a healthier lifestyle. Right. And very early on, we saw a lot of success in terms of our numbers, in terms of people that are coming out participation. And that just speaks to, you know, a lot of people don't know about Milwaukee. It's a hidden, hidden gem. But we're at the forefront of a lot of these, you know, these events and a lot of this research and things of that nature because folks here genuinely care about each other. We're all trying to help each other out, create those environments where we have safer environments, safer, cleaner air, clean water, et cetera, et cetera. And so events like this really, really show that in real time in action.

Amamda: 8:45

Well, and Fidelity's, uh, charities, uh, 2023 Geography Study of Giving said that Milwaukee and the Milwaukee metro area is the fourth most generous metropolitan area in the country. Like then. And we tell our, our folks that, like, as we said, it's a testament to their generosity and, um, the work and the advocacy, um, and the power that this community knows that they can make a difference and effect change.

9:13

Absolutely. Absolutely. So let's talk a little bit about lung health and advocacy in general. What are some of the most common lung diseases that the American Lung Association is working to combat?

Danielle: 9:25

Yeah. Um, number one, probably lung cancer, because it's the number one killer of both men and women in the United States. Um, COPD is the 6th leading cause of death where we're doing a lot of great work with asthma. We've done and continue to do work with COVID 19, long term COVID, many other lung diseases, you know, 121, 000 people. are living with lung disease just in Wisconsin. And that's an increase, since our, our last report as well. And more than 34 million are living with lung disease in the United States. So it's a big deal. And there's, you know, 400, excuse me, 4, 610 new cases of lung cancer, you know, just this. This year,

Amamda: 10:14

and that's for just the state of Wisconsin. That's the state of Wisconsin statistic. Yeah. So 1 of the taglines of the lung association is when you can't breathe, nothing else matters. And so we try to live that in in our mission, and there's so many folks that are affected by lung disease in a variety of forms. But beyond the, the lung diseases, the lung association works tirelessly to combat tobacco cessation, to work on tobacco cessation, as well as a great deal of work curbing the vaping epidemic, especially as it relates to teenagers.

10:47

And you guys bring up a good point too, of how prevalent it is. And those numbers sound shocking just on its head, but as you said, over 900, 000 people just in the state of Wisconsin are affected by this, right? We're not even talking about nationally. And even as an ER provider, you know, I see a ton of folks who suffer from any obstructive lung disease like COPD and asthma, both kind of categorized together. And because it's so prevalent, we see folks don't take it as seriously, you know, Oh, you know, I don't have an inhaler on me anymore. And I just said, but when they come into the emergency department to Amanda's point, nothing else matters when you can't breathe. And so, you know, it's one of those things that I've worked with various organizations, including yours. about to try to get out the word that this is something serious. I have people that I grew up with that unfortunately died of asthma and died of COPD. Right. And so that's how serious these, these conditions are despite their prevalence. And despite how much we kind of normalize it because it is so prevalent, this is something that we need to continue to take seriously and, you know, treat longterm and continue to support that research and education as well. Yeah,

Danielle: 11:53

absolutely. Yes.

11:55

So speaking to that, how does this event help support that, that research that we're talking about, the education and that patient support?

Danielle: 12:02

Yeah. 90 cents of every dollar that's raised goes back into our program. So it goes back into, you know, education for, you know, that you see like on our websites and webinars that we put on and into research and into helping support, you know, advocacy efforts. You know, on the Hill, you have a four star charity navigator designation. That's pretty high up there or so close to that, that five star will hopefully get that next year. We have a patient caregiver network on lung. org so people can call and get, you know, the resources and things that they need to move forward. Also in, well, across the nation and also in Wisconsin, we have been working towards getting emergency inhalers into schools to help, you know, in those emergency situations for asthma, whether or not a child may have asthma or just, you know, found out that day, they can have those things on hand, have a plan of action. Um, and we're working towards, you know, giving all, you know, schools and administrators, all the tools and resources they need to make sure that they have those things on hand in those, uh, situations to help prevent those deaths.

Amamda: 13:15

An example of a great advocacy win that the Lung Association partnered with the Wisconsin Asthma Coalition this year to really help affect that change so that it is allowed for, for schools to have them on hand without a prescription, not only for students, but for coaches, for spectators at a sporting event. And so now we're working with schools and organizations to how do we train our coaches, how do we train our school principals or school nurses, anybody to prevent that emergency asthma situation. And so that was just like, that's an example of an advocacy win and something that we're really proud to be a partner with over this last year that we feel like will really affect change for the community in general.

13:57

Yeah, and I can't speak more to the importance of having that on hand and having those medications on hand too, because again, seconds and minutes count when you have a kid who is having an asthma exacerbation, especially a kid who may need to be on chronic therapies and for whatever reason either access to care or forgot their asthma inhaler that day. Right. That is someone who, instead of waiting for EMS to get there, which can be delayed, you know, we're in the middle of a snowstorm right now in the state of Wisconsin. So who know how long it can take EMS to get there, right? That kid could be breathing in that timeframe by efforts provided by the American Lung Association, the Asthma Coalition, the Children's Health Alliance, right? Like, all of these groups are working in order to make our environment safer and to make our community safer for our kids and for us as well. So getting, getting to that environmental aspect too, I know you guys do a lot of advocacy from that standpoint as well, air quality and environmental health are major concerns. So how does events like this, so the fight for air at the American lung association, how does that tie into broader advocacy efforts for cleaner air for public health policies in general?

Amamda: 15:09

Well, the Lung Association's advocacy and public policy work on air pollution and climate change, um, fights for clean, um, air indoors and out and for a safe climate that doesn't harm lung health. So within that work, the Healthy Air Campaign focuses on federal policies to address outdoor air pollution and climate change. The clean outdoor air and safe climate are of course, critical for healthy lungs. We, um, are, have a wonderful advocacy, uh, director here in the state of Wisconsin. Her name is Molly and she works with our, with our state legislatures and, and share some of those public policy views that we have on clean air and some of the work that she has done. There was just a latest one that they have been working on as well, as it relates to electric vehicles within the legislature. Um, one of the other things that we encourage folks to do is go onto our website, lung. org and you can receive our, um, our mission updates. And like, so you can get advocacy alerts, right? When there's something that you can let your legislatures know about, you can, you can sign on to receive those action alerts as well as then to take action to let your legislatures know how you feel about those, those policies that affect clean air and healthy lungs.

16:27

Absolutely. And so with these efforts and with all that you guys are doing in the community and in the state, you know, I'm sold, right? So how, how does, if I'm someone who lives in the city of Milwaukee or lives in Wisconsin and wants to travel here, who can participate in this climb that's coming up on March 1st and how can people sign up?

Danielle: 16:45

Yeah, everyone, anyone over the age of six years old can participate in the climb. We have those young climbers and we have climbers up to, I think he's 95 years old, uh, John and he is amazing. He he's climbing twice. He climbed last year twice and he. You know, he does, you know, light training, you know, at home, he, when I signed him up for the climb, he said, he's like, I went up and down the stairs to my basement 50 times today, you know? So it's just taking those extra, you know, little steps to, you know, get moving. You know, sometimes we say if you can, you know, walk a mile, you can probably, you know, do the climb. It's just a matter of getting your, your body moving and stuff, but you know, just, you know, take a chance. You can take it at your own pace. It is professionally timed, but it doesn't have to be. A race for you, it could be if that's your personal goal, you're like, I want to get up there. You know, I want to beat the average of, you know, 10 and a half minutes. I want to get 9 or something, but, you know, if you. Get up to the 7th floor where we have our 1st water station. You're like, that's good enough for me. You know, we have people on, you know, on staff and everybody is there to make sure we can get you back down to the elevator and, you know, if you're struggling, you know, get you some help or, you know, you just take a quick break and then continue on to the, you know. The next floor is all the way up to the 30th floor on the top

Amamda: 18:24

folks make it to the

Danielle: 18:25

top

Amamda: 18:25

there. They take a little break. They get that encouragement from the person next to them. You got this. You can do this. And that motivates them to go those next few flights of you can register. So know that 1st of all, I want to say that. Even though it's the state of Wisconsin climb, we have pole climbers like last year from like 12 different states and over a hundred and 126 cities in the state of Wisconsin. Um, so we're, we're a pretty popular climb. We have folks coming from North Carolina, from California to climb with us and to climb with their family because it means something to them as a family. Um. To climb into to take on this challenge together. So folks are able to register at climb Milwaukee dot. There is a 35 dollar registration fee when you register just to note as we're we're at. What are we at? 16 days until the climb as we're recording this. We're at 16 days until the time. Online registration does close Thursday at noon, but that doesn't mean if you miss that deadline that you can't stop in on that Saturday and register in person. There's an extra 15 dollars for registration in person that day. Um, but we also then do ask that everybody raise that that 100 dollars in fundraising, because in the end, this, this is what our mission is. Um, and, um. We want to raise those dollars to, to affect change in lung health for our neighbors.

19:55

Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, let's, let's say there are people who are on the fence, right? They, they are intimidated by the fact that they're going to be climbing up to the 30th floor. What kind of physical preparation or training? I mean, we all aspire to be John, right? 95, they're getting it. But what kind of physical training and preparation do you recommend for those folks who are first timers that are looking to take on this climb?

Amamda: 20:21

I would say that, first of all, you do not have to train. You can tackle these stairs at your own pace without having to train. The biggest thing, though, that I would say is just, you know, it's a little bit harder because now, finally, we have snow here, but, um, get out and get moving. If you don't have a gym membership or anything like that, can you get to the mall? Can you walk indoors in the mall? Just, um, it doesn't have to be steps. If you have steps and can go up and down your basement steps. like 10 times. You don't even have to race it. You know, just get your lung capacity used to that, but you don't have to. You can take it at your own pace. And we have folks that do not train that just come in for the day to do this. We had one lady, Jamie, she was climbing in memory. Of her son, she climbed those steps with her cane. She was doing it. We have a 6 year old to race past. Some of us, right? They're like, and you have you have John who's who's who's 9495 and on a mission and, but we can all do it. Don't be intimidated by that. Take your time. There's a 2 water stations, but I just say, if you can get out and be active, that's great help. Um, that will help boost your confidence. Um, and then there's a couple of tips in terms of, of taking the stairs. The biggest one is do not start too fast. Pace yourself. Everybody gets to the start line. There's cheering, there's the energy and they just go, right? Like, and then you get like three floors up and you're like, Oh, it's like a little bit of burn in the legs and the lungs and so don't start out too fast. Um, one of our seasoned climbers, he climbs with his family and in memory of his wife, he says, take it like a walking pace, like start like a walking pace. You can always. Speed up. The other thing is people have a tendency in that excitement to climb on their toes, you know, and climb on the balls of their feet. Put your whole foot on the stair is what we say. And, and use the hand railing if you need to, like, don't, don't be afraid, uh, of that as well. So those are a couple of those tips, but anybody can do it. Don't, don't be afraid by those 30 floors.

22:34

Absolutely. Yeah. And from what I, what I read on the website, especially they're different climb options for people with varying fitness levels as well. Correct.

Amamda: 22:43

Yes. So we have our traditional climb, which is, uh, that one, one climb up of 30 floors. You can also, uh, purchase and a climb twice pass. So you will climb at your regular scheduled climb time or with your team, if you're climbing with the team. And then when you come back down the elevator, which is a very important point, people ask, yes, you can take the elevator down when you get up to 30, the elevator is there for you to take, take you back down. Um, But so you can then after you climb that 1st time, take a break and climb again, get back in line and climb again. Um, we also have our power hour climb, which is for those athletic enthusiasts or folks who like to challenge themselves that climb starts at 7 am and those folks climb as many times as they can or I say, or want can or want in an hour and they do it on a loop. So they'll, they'll start in the basement, and they'll do that first full set, and then they'll take the elevator down to our lobby, and it loops right next to the stairwell. They get back in the stairwell, and they'll go back up again. I think last year, the person who did the most was, uh, eight. I think they went up eight times in an hour. I mean Amazing, super incredible challenge, but also we forgot to mention this in the beginning. There's another unique climb opportunity and that's the anthem firefighter challenge. So we have an incredible relationship with local firefighters, including with the Milwaukee fire department, but we're glad to have chief Aaron Lipsky serve on our local leadership board. And he's a wonderful. Support an advocate for the lung association and lung health for all, and especially for his firefighters. So the Anthem Firefighter Challenge, um, the firefighters climb in, well, they have the option to climb in gear, impartial gear or no gear, but a lot of them climb in full gear, full turnout gear, helmet, oxygen tank. Some of them choose to climb on oxygen as well, which adds its own trickiness in terms of regulating your breathing. And that claim does happen in a separate stairwell so that any of those, even though their gear is clear and clean any of those a little bit of irritants that may linger, um, are not in the main climb stairwell. But that is, uh, we have right now. I think we have like 150, 170 firefighters joining us. Um, so that all happens at a particular time and you can stand in the lobby and cheer them on as they, as they head up the stairs. So that's pretty cool.

25:14

Yeah. And I mean, for, for everyone listening here, my dad is a retired firefighter down in Chicago.

Danielle: 25:20

Awesome.

25:21

And we used to, he used to take us to the academy and put on that gear and we would do kind of the mock step. You know, my hats off to those, that are involved in that, that, that is just amazing that they're able to do that. And, you know, we all need to be down there cheering them on when doing it too. So that's awesome.

Danielle: 25:36

We have a really great large team from the junior fire Institute. There's about 30 kids who climb the stairwell and they got there. All their gear and the flag, and they, they do it too. So that's

Amamda: 25:49

a really awesome program with the fire department. That is creating connecting students, creating great leadership skills and helping them teach them about the fire service in the city of Milwaukee. So, then to see them support and cheer on and have. Like 30 kids climbing in gear. It's so awesome.

26:09

That's awesome. You guys spoke to it a little bit at the, at the beginning when we talked about some of the connections that folks have with the walk and with the walkers, etc. Have you met any past participants whose stories like really stuck with you that really stuck out in all the events that we've, that you've done thus far?

Amamda: 26:27

Yeah, do you want me to share a few of those that I know of a few that you've talked to?

Danielle: 26:31

Yeah.

Amamda: 26:32

Um, so, uh, one of our, um, one of our firefighters who climbs, uh, is, is a lung cancer survivor and he had one lung removed and he was diagnosed with cancer about five years ago. They feel like that was, he used to, uh, serve in the. Um, Afghanistan in the military, so they think that that was related a little bit to, um, burn pit exposure. So Andrew climbs and he brings his family. Kate has climbed with us over the years and Kate's story is pretty incredible. This year, she's volunteering. She is a, um. Double lung, transparent recipient in her client team was named after her donor in honor of her donor and her donors family. And when we talk about this climb, and we're, we're pumping up our volunteers to serve, we're talking about that. This is a milestone experience for so many participants, right? They look forward to this opportunity every year. Sometimes it's a challenge for them because they struggle with asthma with one of our committee members. Beth. She comes back from, she moved to North Carolina and she comes back every year to do this event because when she started doing this event, she was climbing, um, on oxygen. Chief Lipski carried her oxygen tank behind her, um, and, and climbed up the stairs with her. And so now Beth doesn't need that oxygen. And so it's a part of that huge challenge for her. To get to the top every is so that means like a huge amount to her. We have folks who climb every year in honor and a memory of a loved one who they've lost. Um, and so we have some folks also, I should say that climate themselves very particularly as they, as they remember a family member who they've lost maybe to lung cancer or another lung disease. So it's a very personal experience for a lot of folks beyond that athletic challenge. It's a way of remembering and honoring those we, those we care about.

28:30

Yeah. Just with all the work that you guys do with the American Lung Association and with this climb, how does it feel for you personally to witness survivors and caregivers and healthcare workers, the fire advocates all coming together for this cause?

Danielle: 28:47

Well, this will be my first time, so I'm really excited to. Experience it, see everybody in the lobby, you know, getting excited, hearing, you know, I've heard so many, you know, stories over the phone, but to really like meet them in person I think is going to be amazing experience. I know, um, Amanda for her, um, I'll let her speak to her first climb experience that it was, it's, it can be really moving for people.

Amamda: 29:17

Yeah, so for me, my story in some ways is not unlike a lot of climbers and, and their experience and I joined the Lung Association shortly after I lost my uncle and godfather to lung cancer and before him my dad lost his other brother and his sister to lung cancer in just Like a couple of years and I was not prepared for it, but I got to that year, we were climbing at American family field and I got to American family field before everybody else does in a bright sunny morning. And I just stood there and all of a sudden, and actually started crying in the garden. I just started crying. Like, I just was thinking about how all of these people are coming together. They're raising money to affect change, right? To make a difference to where would my family be? Where would my uncle be? If, if his diagnosis came now, right in the, in the funds that we are doing to support research and medication and different treatments for, for things like lung cancer, if he was diagnosed now with all of the, all of the changes, all of the improvements, all of that additional research, what would our outcome be? How can we. It's pretty incredible to be a part of something that hopefully affects and changes the lives of the next family that's diagnosed with this and has to walk with their family through this. So I was just like, I'm trying to, to cheer everybody on and lead. And I'm, I'm wiping away the tears, just kind of thinking about my own family. Um, so it was, it's a pretty powerful experience to be a part of.

30:43

Absolutely, and you bring up a good point there too, you know, there are going to be so many people that are affected by lung disease at some, in some respect, right, either cancer or some other chronic lung condition. And with that many people, there's going to be somebody that you know, personally. Who is going to be affected by efforts like this by research, by improvement of environmental safety. We're all going to benefit from that. And so how many opportunities do we have to affect change so readily? The events like this are invaluable for that reason. And efforts like, like you all are doing right now. Uh, we all take our hats off to you, uh, as well as to Milwaukee fire. A lot of the Wisconsin fire associations as well, uh, just for participating and getting this word out for the importance and for the safety of our communities. What is one message that you like to leave our listeners with about lung health and getting involved?

Danielle: 31:39

I would say, you know, just, I would say take a chance on us because I think you're gonna have a great time at the event and we're gonna, you know, we're, we're here for you to, You know, provide resources and support and anything that you need, you know, to get you through the time, you know, we're happy to help get people registered or direct them, you know, to the right resource that they, you know, that they need. Um, and you know, every little bit helps, you know, if you, you know, are on the fence or physically can't do it, we have a virtual climb where you can do kind of your own thing and you know, still fundraise and still get that medal if you meet that 100 minimum. But you could do something on your own, like some people who couldn't make it to our climb are on vacation and doing a hike there and gonna fundraise and hike for us separately. If you're, you know, not into stairs, but into volunteering, we have lots of volunteer opportunities to help out on climb day, ahead of climb day. There's a lot of opportunities for you to get involved. If this is your passion, um, or. If you want to become your passion to support the Lung Association, we can provide lots of great opportunities, and it's gonna be a fun, really great event. We have a lot of great things planned, so come join us.

33:09

Yeah. And as far as, you know, how listeners can stay involved with the American Lung Association you spoke to a little bit, Danielle, um, I mean any, any other way that, uh, listeners can get involved and to keep up with you guys for, for future events?

Amamda: 33:22

Absolutely. So one of the things I would say is to follow our, uh, social media. So follow the American Lung Association in Wisconsin's Facebook page, but also we're unique and we have our own Fight for Air Climb Milwaukee Facebook page. So follow those as well. We have a lot of different updates on when registration is happening, different pieces of advocacy and admission things that are happening. There are, go to Lung. org and, and take a look. There are so many incredible support things. Danielle mentioned the Patient Caregiver Network. We have a Lung Health Helpline that's open seven days a week for folks who may be experiencing a new diagnosis, don't know how to navigate that. For families who may have a, a kiddo who's diagnosed with asthma and has a, there is a guide for families. And schools to how to have an asthma care plan in your school. So there's tons of resources there. So check that out, follow our social for some of our local stuff that is happening. And just as we said, when you can't breathe, nothing else matters. Right. And know that every, every little bit that you're able to support, whether that's a donation, whether that's volunteering a few hours on climb day, I'm in charge of volunteers. That's also my shameless

34:35

book.

Amamda: 34:37

We would love to have you join us. Come experience what, what an amazing opportunity this is, and if you're interested in some of those events opportunities, you can email us at eventswi at LUNC. org. And our CLIMB registration is CLIMBMilwaukee. org.

34:54

Awesome. Awesome. We'll definitely look into that. And Danielle and Amanda, I thank you so much for all that you do for our communities. I thank you for putting on this event and we will get this out to our listeners and for all the listeners out there. Feel free to join. Feel free to look into those resources. Thank you guys so much for

Danielle: 35:09

having us. Chris.

35:10

Awesome. I I cannot emphasize how important it is to address the issue of lung disease. Again, we see commonly in the emergency department folks who are suffering from lung disease exacerbations and worldwide in 2017 around 3. 2 million people died from COPD alone. Um, we talk about it all the time in the emergency department, as well as when I go out and do some advocacy work, how important it is to address the issue of asthma, address the issue of COPD and tackle it like it should be, give it the respect that it deserves as As we've seen, A lot of kids, unfortunately, end up dying from asthma, end up dying from lung disease. Uh, and a lot of it has to do with some of the, the exposure. So about 1 billion people are exposed to outdoor air pollution a year. Um, you know, 1 billion people are exposed to tobacco smoke as well. And so these are issues that we are trying to address in the community and efforts like this. those put on through the fight for air climb, uh, and other efforts through the American lung association work to reduce the burden of living with a lung disease through, you know, that education as well as support programs. So definitely for all my listeners out there, feel free to reach out to the American lung association, feel free to register for this walk. If you can't make it or if you want to get involved with any other, lung. association activities or donate, or if you just want some more information about your own condition, I will post the link for the Wisconsin branch of the American lung association as well as for this, uh, this walk as well. So definitely go out. Uh, you know, if you can't participate in this walk, make sure that you're getting out and you're walking, make sure that you're getting that fresh air. Uh, and if you're on chronic medications for your lung disease, Definitely. I cannot express this any further. Definitely make sure that you're taking that medication, uh, longterm steroids. If you have that, definitely make sure you're taking that medication because again, we're seeing over and over again, folks who, uh, either don't have access to that medication or, you know, just don't take that medication. And, you know, we end up in a situation where that ounce of prevention could go a long way in preventing a hospitalization or a bad outcome in the emergency department. So, again, with that being said, I appreciate you all reaching out. Um, you know, I love highlighting events like this throughout the city of Milwaukee and throughout the state. So, if you have any events, um, feel free to reach out, I want you all to, um, continue to reach out with your questions, with your show ideas as well. So, We're going to keep this second season going. Uh, we got some good episodes on the horizon as well. Feel free to check out our Instagram page. We have another page that's up on blue sky now, uh, where we will be posting some, short, videos, uh, some informationals as well, just to get folks thinking about some of these chronic conditions that we're seeing, uh, and acute presentations to the emergency department too. We've been getting some good feedback from that as well. So, uh, looking forward to continuing to bring you, uh, this long and short form, media, So that being said I want to thank you all for coming out Looking forward to seeing you the next time and