BREATHE LA April Newsletter: Healthy Mindset For The Months Ahead Thank you for reading, to unsubscribe please see below. Breathing Easy While Adjusting to New Norms Marc My Words: Letter from President and CEO April 7th marked 2020’s World Health Day, and in honor of this occasion we want to celebrate all of you who are health care professionals, at the forefront of fighting COVID-19. Thank you for your hard work and dedication! As a lung health focused organization, we understand our role in battling this pandemic, as well, which is why we are working on providing our educational programs virtually A lot has changed since we sent our last newsletter, but our dedication to helping Southern Californians has not. Each of us at BREATHE LA is telecommuting (as you can see from the photo above, of our staff meeting on Zoom). We are committed to providing each of you with helpful resources for staying safe during this vulnerable time. False information is circulating right now and it is often difficult to sift through the Internet to find out what is true and what is not. Here at BREATHE LA, we like to rely on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). I know that many of you have moderate to severe asthma and are more at risk than the general population. For you, it is especially important to prepare extra safeguards by creating and following a COVID-19 specific asthma action plan. As we understand, anxiety is a large asthma trigger. Thus, in order to ensure your physical health, it is vital to implement stress reduction into your daily quarantine schedule. To relieve my own stress, I have been trying to spend time outdoors with my family, bike riding, playing ball, and even having a backyard picnic. It is easy to get caught up in the house, especially when you are working from home. But we should all be reminding ourselves to take breaks and get some fresh air. It is not healthy to stay inside all the time; even if it is just sitting in your front yard, our bodies need to feel the sun and breathe fresh air. With so few cars on the road now, our air outside is much cleaner. But, according to the U.S. EPA, our indoor air pollution is often 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels, and in some cases can be more than 100 times greater than outdoor levels of the same pollutants. So check out the tips section below for some stress-relieving, eco-friendly activities to do outside in honor of Earth Day on April 22nd. In this uncertain time, I cannot express to you how much your support means to me and the BREATHE LA team. Every dollar donated, social media post liked, and resource shared allows us to reach more Southern Californians in need of lung health support. If you would like to continue supporting our clean air and lung health efforts, follow BREATHE LA on social media at @BREATHELAC and me at @mcarrel. For more information on COVID-19 updates, visit our website here and make sure to stay safe, watching out for those around you and yourself. In good health, Marc Carrel President & CEO COVID-19 Daily At-Home Tips Eco-Friendly Social Distancing Activities from BREATHE LA for #EarthDay Inspired by Earth Day today, we have compiled three fun, eco-friendly, social distancing activities that you can take part in to combat quarantine induced boredom and care for our earth. 1) Plant A Vegetable Garden Plants are great for air quality and growing your own vegetables reduces the energy and pesticides used to grow and transport the food that you usually buy at the grocery store. Plus, less trips to the store means more social distancing, flattening the COVID-19 curve. If you live in an apartment, you can grow vegetables on your balcony or next to the window. 2) Create Eco Art Rather than purchasing new craft supplies, take a walk with your kids through your neighborhood and collect fallen leaves, flowers, sticks, and pinecones to create your own eco art. You can make pressed flowers by placing your findings between two pieces of paper and under a stack of heavy books. Or, you can organize fallen leaves and sticks into letters on the sidewalk to send eco-friendly messages to your neighbors. 3) Go Plogging Are you finding it hard to stay in shape while social distancing? Try plogging! An activity originated in Sweden, which combines jogging and squatting to pick up litter, is a perfect cardio and strength workout. Plogging is a great way to care for your body and health while also making sure that your neighborhood is clean. Just make sure to use a trash picker or gloves when picking up litter to stay safe from lingering germs. Programs Spotlight: BLA Programs Going Virtual As the COVID-19 crisis persists and social distancing measures remain in place, we have been successful in adapting our programming to virtual platforms. BREATHE LA’s youth programs O24U® and FiRST! will be rolling out as student online courses so we can better serve our local communities during this pandemic. Facilitator trainings for our youth programs are now being conducted live through Zoom Video Conferencing by our BREATHE LA Health Educators. We are also recording the training sessions with an in-depth module walk-through provided to the attendees. Our latest program, Clearing the Air: The Vaping Trend, is being presented virtually via digital teleconferencing methods to help continue educating parents and caregivers of middle and high school students on the dangers of vaping and smoking. BREATHE LA is working together with local community organizations and is in the process of creating more exciting virtual programs, including a virtual training on wearable air sensors and a student led air pollution campaign. Stay tuned for updates as these programs go live! Our sister organization, Emphysema Foundation of America, is challenging you on social media! Emphysema Foundation of America (EFA) is calling on everyone to try and hold their breath for 60 seconds or donate $60 to the organization to help those with lung diseases like COPD and emphysema during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing attention to those who have trouble simply breathing on a daily basis. Through your social media platform of choice, have fun and record you and your loved ones taking our breathing challenge while you are staying at home. While you post your breathing challenge video, make sure to challenge at least three of your social media friends to complete the challenge so we can get as many to participate as possible. And make your videos as fun as you’d like including adding the hashtag “60or60challenge” and tagging @EmphysemaFoundation. All donations from the viral breathing challenge will go to EFA as they continue to provide education and resources to those with COPD and emphysema. For more information, click here. Our Community Partners: Coalition for a Tobacco Free Los Angeles County The Tobacco Free CA website has updated their website to spotlight risks associated with smoking/vaping and COVID-19, and on hookah and COVID-19. California's Smokers' Helpline launched new COVID-19 related pages this month. The California's Smokers' Helpline in English can be found here and the Spanish version here. For more information on BREATHE LA’s partners and sponsors, visit our website at breathela.org. It is #NationalHopeMonth & BREATHE LA needs your support! Our latest virtual fundraising campaign focuses on lung health support during this COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 restrictions may prevent us from providing in-person programming, but it will NOT stop us from serving those in need. BREATHE LA is working hard to provide educational workshops, presentations, and training virtually to our community partners but we need your support now. Share with us what brings you hope by tagging us on social media @breathelac with the hashtag #BreatheInHope, and consider making a meaningful gift online to help BREATHE LA continue to create hope for those living with chronic lung disease. Thank you for your continued support and stay safe. 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