Elder Law FAX The November 20, 2006, issue of Elder Law FAX, a free newsletter published every other Monday by the Elder Law Practice of Timothy L. Takacs. World COPD Day: Help for Sufferers of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease World COPD Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to improve awareness and care of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) around the world. World COPD Day 2006 took place on November 15. The theme of this year's World COPD Day is "Breathless not Helpless!"    This year's theme was chosen to inform people who may be at risk of COPD -- but have not yet been diagnosed to have the disease -- that breathlessness is not an inevitable part of getting older.  Disease experts say that the good news is that there is something that can be done to address the symptoms associated with COPD.   Eleven million Americans, many of them over 65 years of age, live with COPD, which is now the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Numerous U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies and other studies conducted around the world have demonstrated that those suffering with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are currently among the most sensitive in all societies to air pollution.   Specifically, these persons are susceptible to elevated concentrations of particulate matter in the air they breathe. On days when levels of particulate matter exceed specific criteria levels, persons with COPD are expected to suffer more illness and greater numbers of deaths relative to others in our societies. On an annual basis, says the EPA, this will account for tens of thousands of deaths among those with COPD in this country alone.   An EPA fact sheet and poster entitled "Age Healthier, Breathe Easier" outline simple steps that older adults with these respiratory diseases can take to reduce and control the frequency of their symptoms. Simple steps that people can take to minimize their exposure or the exposure of a loved one living with COPD to environmental hazards include: Avoiding tobacco smoke; Avoiding smoke from wood burning stoves; Reducing mold, dust mites and cockroaches in the home; Checking the furnace and heating units annually; Fixing water leaks promptly; and Checking the air quality index through newspaper, television and radio reports, or through the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/aging. A poster and fact sheet that help address environmental triggers for COPD are available for the EPA at http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/epareports.htm#copd