AUSTIN, Texas -- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, affects 16 million Americans. Right now, there is no cure but there is one unconventional treatment option that has left some patients on a "high note."
- Gag gift ended up aiding patients with COPD
- Helps patients control breathing
It was an unexpected gift that sparked interest for Claudia Deyton’s and St. David's Medical Center respiratory therapist, Kitty Collins. Little did they know, it ultimately changed COPD sufferers’ lives.
“It was just a gag gift, the harmonicas,” she said. “But then, the people who got involved decided ‘we want this to keep going.’”
Deyton and Collins came up with the idea to use the harmonica as part of patient recovery. One of them was John Pritchard, who has COPD.
“I came to a meeting and they said, ‘Here’s your harmonica,’ and it’s not the cheap throwaways, by the way,” he laughed. “They gave me the harmonica and some of this stuff. And I said ‘What is this?’ Then they say ‘If it’s black, you blow in this number, and if it’s red, you suck on it.”
Patients at St. David's Medical Center play harmonicas in this image from March 2020. (Victoria Maranan/Spectrum News)
“It’s like going to the gym for your lungs,” Deyton said. “If you’re having to do this breathing exercise and that breathing exercise, it’ll get boring very fast and you wouldn’t want to do that. But playing the harmonica, you’re thinking about playing the tunes and you’re not thinking that you’re doing the breathing thing.”
“I’ve seen many of them start off and being able to see them doing the songs, having a little bit more control of their breathing,” Collins said. “Just seeing their progress is really great.”
Aside from regaining control of their breathing, the band also serves as somewhat of a support group.
“So far, it’s helped me enough. I’m maintaining,” Pritchard said.
“Being able to be with other people who understands what this disease feels like, what that shortness of breath feels like is so important,” Collins explained. “One of the things that we, that I see is the most important thing that we do in pulmonary rehab is that we give people hope.”