Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month

Mayor Craig Cates has proclaimed November as Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month.

“The health of our community’s people is the foundation for a caring and productive society,” reads the proclamation, “and our future rests with our ability to adequately treat, and ultimately find cures for individuals who are affected with a variety of illnesses including pulmonary hypertension.”

Kathleen Ford, a group leader for the Pulmonary Artery Hypertension Key West Support Group, accept the proclamation.

PH is a chronic, life-threatening lung disease marked by elevated blood pressure in the lungs.  The insidious affliction, said Ford, is difficult to diagnose early. By the time it is, she said, victims likely only have less than three years to live. It can take three years to diagnose, which makes the treatments that are available less effective.

“This delay in diagnosis has not changed in the past twenty years,” reads the proclamation. “Patients who are diagnosed earlier have a longer life-expectancy, and education can help with early diagnosis. Funding for research can also help find a cure.”

In the photo: Kathleen Ford and Mayor Craig Cates.

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