Patient Story: Michael

Michael has completed Pulmonary Rehab at Temora Hospital. He was a regular attendee of the group, travelling near 40km from Ariah Park to participate and help better manage his COPD.

Initially, Michael identified that even walking to the end of the street was effortful and was faced with having to retire from work due to struggles with environmental dust and shortness of breath.

Throughout pulmonary rehab, Michael was linked in with the respiratory nursing staff and provided with education on how to better manage his inhalers, and independently sourced a COPD Action plan with his GP.

Michael recently completed his final outcome measures, where he made large improvements on his 6 minute walk test, CAT and EQ-5D-5L.

Michael has since been empowered to assist others in the community struggling with lung conditions and motivation. As a result, he has created a walking group at Ariah Park where up to 8 members of the community attend and walk up to 5km once a week. He reports even educating people about the BORG scale and how it helps to pace yourself when struggling with breathlessness.

Due to the popularity of the group, Michael is now in the process of starting up a second group! Go Michael!!