We all need oxygen

World Oxygen Day was Monday, Oct. 2, 2023.

For the last 40 years, supplemental oxygen therapy has been a mainstay treatment for millions of people of all ages living with respiratory problems. These people rely upon oxygen therapy to relieve the symptoms like breathlessness and limited activity caused by chronic problems like COPD, as well as more acute conditions like pneumonia and sleep problems. Despite its ability to add years to people’s lives and life to their years, advancements in oxygen therapy technology have been very slow to happen. The COVID-19 pandemic made the problem even worse by increasing the demand for oxygen equipment as well as straining supply chains. Many people who could benefit from oxygen therapy do not use it as prescribed because of the inconvenience, the cost, or the stigma that can be attached to it.

Dr. Thomas Petty, once called the father of modern pulmonary medicine, helped conduct much of the research that became the basis of how we use oxygen therapy today. In the early 2000s, after enduring health problems that led to him undergoing multiple open-heart surgeries, Dr. Petty was himself prescribed oxygen therapy. In 2004, he wrote a book called “Adventures of an Oxy-Phile,” discussing his experiences as both a clinician and a patient and sharing the stories of others in the oxygen therapy community. In the book, Dr. Petty wrote, “In the final analysis, we are all ‘Oxy-Philes.’ That is, we literally love oxygen.” Oxygen is an essential fuel for every human, no matter what condition their lungs are in.

Dr. Petty passed in 2009, but his legacy lives on today in this year’s World Oxygen Day theme, “We Are All Oxyphiles.” World Oxygen Day 2023 highlighted the many stories of how oxygen therapy helps people live their best lives despite dealing with shortness of breath from low oxygen levels, as well as the kinds of changes needed to make this therapy easier to access and use.

World Oxygen Day is meant to inform the public and policymakers on these critical issues, as well as support the oxygen community by promoting the need to modernize oxygen therapy around the world. After all, all of us need oxygen…some just need a little more than others.

Visit copdfoundtion.org to learn more.