Sep 11, 2013 3 min read

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If you visit Centerville Clinic’s Washington center on the third Wednesday of the month, you will find a group of people getting together for snacks, conversation and better breathing.

The Better Breathers Club is a support group for people with lung disease. Caring Mission TCM Home Health partners with the Centerville Clinic on Highland Avenue to provide informational speakers and light refreshments for those with lung problems.

“Basically our group is to help the community, help the patients out there that have (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), asthma, any kind of pulmonary diseases,” said Sharon Rice, marketing manager for Caring Mission. “We have a different presenter each month. We do breathing exercises. We talk about eating right for COPD patients. It’s educational.”

Attendance is free and beneficial because of volunteers like Lynette Talpas and Linda Lyons, both of Jeffrey’s Drug Store in Canonsburg, and Joyce Harshman, marketing/office manager at Punxsy Medical Supply in Washington. Talpas and Lyons conducted free osteoporosis screenings at the June meeting.

“There are so many avenues that are out there that people just aren’t aware of. And that’s what we are trying to do is educate them. That’s all there is to it,” said Harshman.

While education is the most important goal, the people that attend the group have also found companionship.

“We all have a similar need,” said Diane Scott, 68, of Washington, who has general COPD caused by secondhand smoke.

Janet Rozanc, 36, of Canonsburg, found out about the group from a flier at her doctor’s office. Rozanc is on oxygen 24 hours a day and is not able to drive so her parents attend the group with her to support her.

“For the lung therapy it’s really helped me out a lot. I have bad lungs. And it’s made a big difference,” said Rozanc.

Stan Yopek, 71, of Washington, doesn’t need to be on oxygen, but as a retired coal miner, he deals with the complications of black lung. Yopek worked in the mines for 25 years, 22 of those years spent as a roof bolter, which exposed him to coal dust every day.

“The black lung creates other things. I used to get pneumonia like crazy. Bronchitis four or five times a year. I was sick all the time,” said Yopek.

Alberta Orndoff, Centerville Clinic pulmonary department black lung supervisor, knows that the group provides a bonding experience for the people that visit. Scott agrees and wants to make sure people don’t get the wrong idea about the attitude of the group.

“None of us sits here and moans and groans,” Scott said. “We’re cheerful.”

Caring Mission TCM Home Health runs two other groups, one at Mon Valley Hospital and partners with Centerville Clinic to hold the other in Uniontown.