Step by step: Awareness for chronically ill lung patients

It is important to be active! Especially for COPD patients. But: Motivating lung patients to be physically active is not so easy. This is why Berlin-Chemie has developed the exercise initiative "My breath, my way". dk Life Science Communications is still in charge of the media work.

Picking up patients emotionally, motivating them to take more exercise and informing them about their illness - that is the principle of the initiative "My breath, my way".

The idea: COPD patients go for a walk in the woods or park with relatives and other affected people as part of nationwide hiking days - because together, exercise is more fun! Depending on their level of fitness, the participants choose a distance of one, three or five kilometres that is easy to cover. The paths are easy to master, even for patients with oxygen equipment or walker. Local pneumologists, general practitioners and physiotherapists accompany the hikers on the routes. At intermediate stops, the experts show, among other things, breath-relieving exercises and give valuable tips on how to proceed in case of respiratory distress. The number of participants has been rising steadily since the start in 2016. So far, more than 3,000 COPD patients have been able to get moving together with their companions.

Doing good and talking about it: Journalist news tickers, background texts with current quotations, regional press releases, patient stories, publications and other measures keep the specialist and public media up to date.