Supporters poised to ‘strike a pose’ for PF Awareness Month
Rare lung disease affects hundreds of thousands of people worldwide
Supporters are gearing up to mark Pulmonary Fibrosis Awareness Month, set aside every September, to call attention to the rare lung disease that affects more than 250,000 individuals in the U.S. and 400,000 in Europe.
For its part, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF), with its campaign theme “Embrace Your Breath,” will post content daily on its social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and YouTube. Supporters are encouraged to share the postings, using the hashtags #PFMonth and #BlueUp4PF. Throughout the month, as part of its “30 Facts in 30 Days” series, the foundation will post a fact each day about pulmonary fibrosis (PF).
Members of the PF community are also asked to “strike a pose” symbolizing a set of lungs by pressing the second knuckle of each hand together and holding them over their chest, and post it on their social media platforms, using the hashtag #EmbraceYourBreath and tagging @pfforg. The organization will re-post the submitted photos to help raise disease awareness.
Landmarks to be illuminated in blue during PF awareness month
There are also efforts to get landmarks and other structures illuminated in blue, the color representing PF. Some of these landmarks include the Allegheny County Courthouse, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Bart Starr Memorial Bridge in Green Bay, Wisconsin; the Bank of America Plaza in Dallas, Texas; and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Bridge in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
A free hour-long webinar on supplemental oxygen is scheduled for Sept. 13, which is Interstitial Lung Disease Day, and a virtual National Walk is set for Sept. 30 to raise funds and awareness. The foundation is offering downloadable images and an awareness month Zoom background.
“This year is going to be bigger and better than ever and we want you to participate,” the organization states on the event webpage. “And you can do it all right on social media!”
Elsewhere, the European Pulmonary Fibrosis Federation is reprising its “Breathing Life” campaign theme for this year, and is offering a host of downloadable, customizable graphics in multiple languages for posting on social media using the hashtags #BreathingLife, #PFMonth, and #CurePF.
Also available are a campaign banner, poster, flyer, picture frames, magnetic pins and stickers, and video material for use to heighten PF awareness, including quotes and brief statements from PF patients, clinicians, and scientists.
PF guides available for healthcare practitioners and patients
The federation, which is a nonprofit organization that represents PF patient organizations in Europe, is offering consultation guides on treating and living with PF. The treatment guide, primarily intended for healthcare practitioners, covers topics like disease diagnosis, PF progression, and available treatments. The guide to living with PF, for newly diagnosed patients, covers PF types, diagnosis, risk factors, care teams, symptoms, disease causes, and questions patients can ask their physicians. Both downloadable guides are available in multiple languages.
The organization is also offering three-dimensional, downloadable images of a lung, as well as a video meant to illustrate a lung “breathing life.” In addition, the federation for the first time will add an in-person element to its annual campaign. Member organizations had been invited to apply for a grant to connect with the general public through a face-to-face activity. Three such organizations were selected by an independent committee, with details about the winners and events forthcoming.
“PF Awareness Month … wants to draw attention to PF, its implications and the changes it brings about in daily life as well as the physical and psychological strain that the disease places on patients and their loved ones — but also to the essential moments of light-heartedness, normalcy and happiness that patients with PF still experience despite this burden,” the federation states on its awareness month webpage.
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