At 52, Gregory is a veteran of the First Gulf War, and he has the physical and emotional scars that often accompany military service members home from the battlefield. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—an inflammatory lung disease that can increase the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and a…
What does good nutrition have to do with lung disease? A lot, actually! What you eat and drink can have a big effect on your breathing, especially if you’re living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—or COPD, for short.
Our Meals for Care Transitions program is expanding to The Medical Center of Aurora, where health care providers will be piloting the use of food as medicine to improve their patients’ health. Starting this month, The Medical Center of Aurora’s registered dietitians will identify patients who have undergone bypass surgery, suffered a heart attack, or been diagnosed with…
Research suggests that only 20% of your overall health is influenced by the medical care you receive. The remaining 80% is influenced by conditions like housing, transportation, education, and food—called “social determinants of health”. With a recent shift toward providing value-based care, health care providers are starting to recognize the necessity of addressing social determinants…
It’s hard to imagine something as simple as breathing increasing your caloric needs, but this is the reality for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who are also underweight. Mary, a client referred to Project Angel Heart by her social worker at National Jewish, is one of these people.
Heart-healthy meals make life easier for grandmother and granddaughter Like many grandparents today, Sally, age 67, is the primary caregiver for a grandchild. Her story is a bit different, though, because Sally has been diagnosed not only with cancer, but also with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and coronary artery disease.