THE COPD CAREGIVER GUIDE: At Work with COPD
Helping make workplace accommodations for your loved one with COPD
BY:MARGARET FARLEY STEELE
When COPD patients were surveyed by the American Lung Association, half said the illness limited their ability to work. But many who do work “can function at a pretty high level,” says James K. Stoller, MD, MS, head of the respiratory therapy section of the department of pulmonaary, allergy and critical-care medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. “It helps to have a good working relationship with the employer, with understanding and commitment on both sides,” he says.
After struggling to walk from the parking lot to his job inside a hospital, for instance, a health worker with COPD was granted a reserved parking space close to the entrance. At another workplace, an employee sensitive to fragrances benefited when the company switched to unscented cleaning products in the restrooms.
For workers with COPD, simple job-site modifications like these make it possible to work more productively and comfortably. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, says Tracie DeFreitas Saab, MS, lead consultant on the Job Accommodations Network sensory team of the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy, an employer must make reasonable accommodations. But “reasonable” should not pose a hardship for the employer. Saab notes the most common requests regarding COPD and the workplace involve:
-Accessible parking
-Mobility within the workplace (such as moving a work station near the entrance)
-Working from home
-A smoke-free/fume-free workplace
-A well-ventilated environment free of occupational dust
-Schedule flexibility
-Advanced notification of construction and cleaning
-Allowance for a scooter or motorized cart to get around a large building
As a caregiver, you might arrange a discussion with a doctor about your loved one’s job responsibilities. Is the person with COPD physically capable of doing the job? And is he or she willing to wear oxygen, if recommended? Those are key questions, says James Shamiyeh, MD, a pulmonologist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee. The stigma of wearing oxygen often derails employees, he says, adding that they refuse to wear it and then feel miserable and quit.
Dr. Shamiyeh encourages patients to work as long as possible, provided the workplace is free of irritants. How long, he explains, depends on the job. A manual laborer, for example, might be short of breath early on in the illness, while a white-collar worker more likely could manage deskwork until a more advanced stage of the illness.
If possible, have the person you care for avoid traveling to work at rush hour, when exhaust fumes from vehicles are heaviest, and when trains, buses and subways are most crowded.
Also check out these sections of the COPD Caregiver Guide: