Yardley Pulmonary Center Brings Comprehensive Care to South Florida
The Catherine Yardley Comprehensive Pulmonary Center has officially opened in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to provide high-quality, cutting-edge care to individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other lung conditions.
The establishment of the center, part of Holy Cross Health, was made possible by a $2 million donation from Herb Yardley in memory of his wife, Catherine Yardley, who died of COPD complications. He owns Massey Yardley Jeep Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Plantation, Florida.
“My wife Catherine died from COPD. Watching her struggle to breathe was difficult for her family,” Yardley said when making the donation, according to a press release. “COPD is the third leading cause of death and is an unknown and undertreated disease. We hope to begin correcting that by establishing a pulmonary center at Holy Cross Health.”
During his wife’s illness, Yardley discovered a dearth of resources and lung specialists in South Florida, which motivated him to help establish an innovative local facility to provide such care.
Yardley’s donation will enable Holy Cross to conduct comprehensive research, advance treatment candidates for COPD and other lung diseases, create a lab focused on research and investigation, and enhance existing bronchoscopy laboratories.
The new center is staffed by pulmonary specialists in addition to respiratory navigators who aim to empower patients to self-manage their condition.
Services available at the new center include COPD diagnosis and treatment, lung cancer screening, smoking cessation counseling, Zephyr valve treatment for advanced COPD, biopsies using robotic equipment, sleep testing, and pulmonary rehabilitation.
In addition, the center’s COPD Clinic will work to help patients keep their care plan on track and collaborate with the COPD Foundation to remain current on treatment options and research. Through a partnership with the foundation, the center will offer peer coaching and patient support.
Other center services will help partners ease patients’ transition from the hospital to their residence and obtain home-use breathing devices.
Holy Cross Health, which has partnered with the American Lung Association in South Florida to spread awareness of COPD and other lung diseases and to help educate patients, has been named the association’s 2021-22 COPD Community Champion.
There are more than three million cases of COPD annually in the U.S. alone. The disorder can obstruct airflow in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
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