PERF, The Pulmonary Education and Research Foundation, is a small but vigorous non-profit foundation.  We are dedicated to providing help, and general information for those with chronic respiratory disease through education, research, and information.  This publication is one of the ways we do that.  The Second Wind is not intended to be used for, or relied upon, as specific advice in any given case.  Prior to initiating or changing any course of treatment based on the information you find here, it is essential that you consult with your physician.  We hope you find this newsletter of interest and of help

Progress around the world!

• The government of Korea started funding oxygen concentrators in June of this year. They are also interested in starting pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
• The Japanese government in April of this year started to reimburse smoking cessation programs in an all out effort to curtail the smoking rate in their country. By doing so, they hope to help prevent a variety of cancers, COPD and the other diseases that we know are caused by cigarette smoke. The world health community now acknowledges that cigarette smoke is the number one preventable cause of death and disease in the world.
• Smoking cessation reimbursement isn't the only enlightened ruling made by the Japanese Ministry of Health this year. As of June they will also reimburse for pulmonary rehabilitation. Way to go, Japan! To paraphrase those old cigarette commercials, "You've come a long way in the past 10 years!". We congratulate our Japanese friends for having successfully convinced the Government of the long-term benefits of these reimbursements and hope many other countries, like the United States for one, will soon emulate you.

Donations

We would like to thank Phil Whiting for his donation to PERF. Very special thanks from Mary, as well as from PERF, for the donation from Dr. & Mrs. David and Robin Lewis in honor of Mary Burns. 

The PEP Pioneers made donations to PERF in memory of Olesley Cole, Marian Nemec, Zina Stagnaro, Kay Arndt, Pat Blay, Marjorie Baxter, Moe O'Leary, Clare Kennedy, Joe Litzinger, Bonnie McCarthy, Barbara White, Bill Gaugh, Hubert Swisher, Michael Scholnick, and Betty Sanford. 

Dale & Robin Christie sent a donation in memory of Katie Beckley, as did Gianina Donatoni in memory of Jerry Donatoni. 

Our thanks to all of you who thought of PERF when remembering those special to you. We join you in honoring them.

PERF on GOOGLE

Have you ever Googled our PERF web site? If you are unaware of the power of the Internet, and the Google search engine, we'd like to share a story with you. Some weeks ago we received an email from Holland. Unlike most of our emails, this wasn't a question about pulmonary disease. It was a search for two long lost friends. A Google search of the Internet had resulted in only one hit; our PERF website. PERF had acknowledged memorial donations made by these missing friends two and one half years ago. We have a firm policy of never giving out any addresses at any time. But a series of emails exchanged with Holland gradually convinced us this was a special case. We decided to do our best to help without violating privacy standards. 

The two "girls" our Dutch email correspondent was looking for had been Chinese refuges fleeing from Indonesia. They had lived with her mother-in-law's family in Holland for several years---- about 50 years ago! Her family remembered them fondly, and wanted these lost friends to know her mother-in-law had recently died. 

This is a long story about many phone calls, and several weeks of frustrating failure before we finally located the family for whom the memorial had been dedicated. They were as amazed as we by the series of circumstances leading to our call and also promised to do their best to reconnect these two families. More time passed. Finally our lost donors were found and they were very happy to again be able to share memories and greetings with their long lost friends in Holland! 

Weeks later there is still a sense of awe as we ponder on how these two families, separated by years and by distance, connected again thanks to Google, and thanks to a memorial donation to PERF. 

Do you have a question about respiratory disease that has been bothering you? 
If so, feel free to write and ask us, either through our web site or by mail.
We answer all of your letters.

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