Connect with the CHEST Foundation at CHEST 2019

Join the CHEST Foundation at one of its many events designed around the three pillars of the organization—clinical research, community service, and patient education—during CHEST 2019.

The activities kick off with the Lung Health Experience on Saturday, October 19, held at the Spanish Plaza from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

The event offers free spirometry screening for lung disease by respiratory therapists and pulmonologists. Participants can then have their spirometry values interpreted and explained by a physician or clinician. Anyone is welcome to attend the event, and volunteers are encouraged to come help. Other unique components of the event include the virtual patient tour, which provides a hands-on education opportunity for all participants to learn about lung health, and advocacy partners that attendees can connect with after the event to be more involved.

“Each year, this event provides access to basic testing so the community members who are there can have their own lungs tested,” said CHEST Foundation President Doreen J. Addrizzo-Harris, MD, FCCP. “We’ll do spirometry testings, provide feedback, and let participants know if their lungs are healthy or if they need to see someone to receive more care.”

The Opening Session/CHEST Foundation Awards/Convocation on Monday, October 21, will provide attendees with an update on the Foundation’s work over the past year and also will present this year’s award winners. Previous grant awardees will be highlighted during the Breakfast of Champions, which will take place prior to the Opening Session.

Be sure to stop by the Donor Lounge to learn how you can champion lung health. The CHEST Foundation is offering educational sessions this year (hours and sessions listed below). For the full schedule of sessions, please check chestfoundation.org, the Donor Spotlight, and the CHEST Events app.

You can also get to know more about the Foundation through a scavenger hunt, sponsored by NBRC, said Dr. Addrizzo-Harris, professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Life-sized cardboard cutouts of Foundation leaders will hold clues leading participants to various spots at the annual meeting and a chance to win a prize.

Dr. Addrizzo-Harris has supported the growth of the Women & Pulmonary program, which is now more than 350 members. This year’s Women & Pulmonary Luncheon and Networking Hour on Monday, October 21, will feature Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD, a founding member of TIME’S UP Healthcare.

That Monday evening also will include a reception for young professionals hosted by the Foundation.

The Foundation is giving out more than $650,000 in clinical research and community service grants this year, a jump up from the $500,000 last year.

“We also have increased the number of travel grants that we gave our annual meeting for fellows-in-training and junior faculty,” Dr. Addrizzo-Harris said. “Some of them are diversity travel grants and others are leadership travel grants. The grants bring in early career clinicians who we think are going to really find a place in CHEST to advance their careers and become future CHEST leaders.”

Other ways the Foundation will be present at the annual meeting include a meter board that will feature real-time donations made to the Foundation during CHEST 2019 and meetings of Global Governors to discuss community service projects going on in their parts of the world. Also, don’t forget to stop at the Mylan booth to play the “CHEST Your Knowledge” game. For every person that comes to play the game and interact at the Mylan booth, Mylan will make a donation to the CHEST Foundation, up to $25,000 throughout the meeting.

During this past year as president, Dr. Addrizzo-Harris helped fundraise more than $150,000 for the CHEST Foundation during a Kentucky Derby event in New York City. The money is going toward a new bronchiectasis grant being offered this year.

Next year’s event is already in the works. To keep with the horseracing theme, the event will be held on June 6–Belmont Stakes Day.

“We’re going to focus on expanding community service grants and will be honoring Dr. Robert McCaffree, who is a former CHEST president,” she said.

Another “phenomenal thing that we have cultivated, developed, and expanded,” Dr. Addrizzo-Harris said, is the Erin Popovich Endowment. This endowment will focus on access to care for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. It will help patients, their family, and their physician overcome some of the obstacles in accessing care and information for patients with this disease.

“I always think about the Foundation as being the patient-facing portion of our organization,” Dr. Addrizzo-Harris said. “I think most of the things that we do are to help the patient, their families, and the community learn about their lung disease and learn ways to work with their physicians to enhance their care.”