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▲ Pulmonary rehabilitation gave Grace Anne Dorney Koppel a new lease on life. Husband Ted (yes, that Ted Koppel, long-time anchor of ABC’s “Nightline”) helped her extend that to others with a birthday donation that went toward a new pulmonary ▲ From left, newsmanTed Koppel, St. Mary’s Hospital President Christine R. Wray, and Grace Anne Dorney Koppel celebrate the opening of The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary & Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD, in early January. rehabilitation center bearing her name. 50 A AR C Ti mes M a rc h 2010 ▲ Grace Anne Dorney Koppel along with husband, Ted Koppel, cut the ribbon to commemorate the grand opening of The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary & Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD, in early January. Ted Koppel had the idea for the gift and donated the funds to help open the center in honor of his wife. by Debbie Bunch The new Medicare benefit for pulmonary rehabilitation went into effect in January; and that’s been good news for patients all over the country who need this program to help them improve their lung health. What many people don’t realize is that the Medicare benefit only covers the services provided to beneficiaries. It doesn’t cover any of the start-up costs typically associated with a new pulmonary rehabilitation program. In many smaller communities, those start-up costs for equipment and other resources are simply too high, and that means chronic lung patients in those communities either have to travel a long distance to access a pulmonary rehabilitation program or just do without. Leonardtown, MD, was one such small community. Despite a high prevalence of COPD there, the closest pulmonary rehabilitation program was a four-hour roundtrip drive. But thanks in large part to a surprise birthday gift newsman Ted Koppel gave to his wife Grace Anne Dorney Koppel last year, the local hospital now has a state-ofthe-art facility that rivals any you will find in the big city. The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary & Cardiac Rehabilitation Center officially opened at St. Mary’s Hospital on Jan. 8, and what’s more, it’s just the first center of many to come. “My special thanks go to my husband, Ted, for making this day a reality,” said Ms. Dorney Koppel in her speech at the opening ceremonies. “Yes, he and I have a dream, that every state will have at least one pulmonary rehabilitation clinic in underserved communities. St. Mary’s Hospital is the first.” The couple’s interest in COPD dates back to 2001 when Ms. Dorney Koppel was diagnosed with a severe case of the condition. At the time, her lung function was only 26% of normal, and physicians told her she might have only a few more years to live. Ms. Dorney Koppel refused to accept that prognosis. Instead, she armed herself with information about COPD, learning that pulmonary rehabilitation was available to help people with the disease. “The benefits from the pulmonary rehab program were immeasurable,” she says. “I was able to begin a serious exercise program and was closely monitored… by respiratory therapists while I built up muscle strength that I had lost over many years where I did not do aerobic exercise.” She says she could feel her strength slowly returning, reinforcing the positive benefits of the lifestyle changes she was making. In the program she learned about proper nutrition and inhaled medication technique, how to deal with depression and anxiety that is common in those who have COPD, and the process and progression of COPD. “Understanding your enemy is crucial to control over disease,” she says. She also appreciated the social aspect to the program, which helps families and caregivers understand the challenges the COPD patient is facing, and she was inspired by her fellow patients. “I was able to see others who were not as handicapped as me, but had been before rehab, and still others who were even more challenged than I was but were trying their hardest.” The program did wonders for her. Today her lung function is nearly 60% of normal, which she says is more than enough to allow her to do all the things she wants to do. One of those things has been to serve as a key spokesperson for the National Institutes of Health’s “Learn More Breathe Better” COPD public education campaign. The Koppels have worked closely with the COPD and pulmonary rehabilitation community to inform AARC Times March 201 0 51 people about COPD and how it can be treated. Ted Koppel has appeared at legislative functions to educate members of Congress, as well. “I like to say that I got my life back through the pulmonary rehab program,” she says. “I actually did.” But she emphasizes it’s a lifelong endeavor. “It is important to remember that although the program is 12 weeks, the benefits will not become reality unless the patient is committed to a lifetime of change. Exercise and nutrition changes must be continued by the COPD patient, or else the rehabilitation is futile.” A natural fit Ms. Dorney Koppel says she and her husband chose St. Mary’s to house the new center because of a long family history in the Leonardtown area. “Ted and I have had ties to St. Mary’s County going back to 1986 when we purchased an old historic home there,” she says. “Our three daughters married at our house in St. Mary’s.” Just as important, however, the county was in dire need of a program. “The county met all criteria — large numbers of patients who have COPD and have no access to pulmonary rehabilitation.” Making sure the program was state of the art was job one. Health professionals at St. Mary’s benefited greatly from the guidance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, with Jonathan Orens, MD, associate director and clinical chief of pulmonology and critical care medicine, and respiratory therapist staff members Cheri Grottenthaler, RRT, RPFT, and Marlene Dougherty, RRT, providing much welcomed advice and assistance. In her speech at the opening, Ms. Dorney Koppel also took the opportunity to thank many of the other people who helped make the center a reality, including Joan Gelrud, Christine R. Wray, Michelle McCloskey, MHS, OT-L, SIPT, and Nancy Griffin, RRT-NPS, AE-C, from St. Mary’s; Amy Pianalto, director of the “Learn More Breathe Better” campaign; John W. Walsh and his colleagues at the COPD Foundation; Jim Phillips, director of the regional American Lung Association; and American Association for Respiratory Care Executive Director Sam Giordano, MBA, RRT, FAARC, and the AARC, which has worked with Ms. Dorney Koppel in her efforts to spread the word about COPD. 52 A AR C Ti mes M a rc h 2010 Living proof As someone living with COPD, Ms. Dorney Koppel believes pulmonary rehabilitation should be available to every patient, and the new program at St. Mary’s that bears her name will go a long way to making that a reality in Leonardtown and the surrounding communities. Ms. Dorney Koppel also has some advice for the people who take care of these patients. “Health care professionals and COPD patients should have a relationship that is based on being partners,” she emphasizes. “Unless one walks mentally in the shoes of the patient, one cannot know how much stress is present in everyday life for someone with COPD…. We need the empathy of health care professionals, and never, never should you blame the patient and assume that smoking, even decades earlier, is the cause.” If a patient is still smoking, clinicians should certainly prescribe medications and programs to help them quit, but they shouldn’t weigh in on the person’s behavior. “Remember, you are a medical professional and wear the white coat. You do not have black judicial robes.” She urges clinicians to look past the old smoking blame game and conduct the blood studies necessary to rule out alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. And one more thing, says the COPD spokesperson: “Please delete the word ‘irreversible’ from the vocabulary that you use when talking about COPD. It is partially reversible and treatable.” She is living proof. ■ ▲ ▲ John W. Walsh, president of the COPD Foundation, Christine R. Wray, president and CEO of St. Mary’s Hospital, and Amy Pianalto of the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. ▲ Grace Anne Dorney Koppel spoke about her battle with COPD at the grand opening of The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary & Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD, in early January. Through her own pulmonary rehabilitation she got her life back. Ms. Dorney Koppel is a national patient advocate for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s COPD “Learn More Breathe Better” campaign of the National Institutes of Health, a Maryland attorney, and business manager to husband, newsman Ted Koppel. ▲ From left, St. Mary’s Hospital Vice President Joan Gelrud, Grace Anne Dorney Koppel, and Ted Koppel discuss the vision for The Grace Anne Dorney Pulmonary & Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at St. Mary’s Hospital in Leonardtown, MD, at the grand opening of the center in early January. The Koppels, along with their family members, hope to open similar centers in rural areas each year until they have opened a center in each state. Visiting with Ted Koppel are Dr. Jonathan Orens, associate director of pulmonary and critical care medicine and medical director of the lung transplantation program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is also the medical director of respiratory care and the pulmonary rehabilitation program at the Johns Hopkins Bayview campus. Also shown from the Bayview campus are Cheri Grottenthaler, director of respiratory services, and Marlene Dougherty, coordinator of pulmonary rehabilitation. AARC Times March 201 0 53