Breathe California provides many services to fight lung disease, advocate for clean air, and promote public health in our local communities. Our current areas of focus include:
Asthma – Summer Asthma Camp Superstuff for children, indoor air quality assessments, asthma education classes for children, asthma education workshops for adults
Tobacco Control & Prevention – Ash Kickers Smoking Cessation Program, Secondhand Smoke Helpline, Smoke-free outdoor dining, tobacco control advocacy
Environmental Stewardship – Silicon Valley Clean Cities Coalition, Youth for a Cool Earth, transportation projects
Sleep Apnea – Sleep Safe Program
Why do we do what we do?
- Lung disease is now the second leading cause of death in the United States.
- Over 49 million Americans are living with a chronic lung disease.
- Asthma affects more than 25 million Americans
- There are more than 3,300 asthma-related deaths in the United States each year, and these deaths are often preventable.
- COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease such as emphysema) is the third leading cause of death in the United States.
- An estimated 24 million people in the USA are living with COPD.
- Smoking is the #1 preventable cause of death in the USA.
- More people die from smoking and second hand smoke than AIDS, breast cancer, drug overdoses, homicide, motor vehicle accidents and suicide combined.
- 26% of adults aged 30-70 years have obstructive sleep apnea and 75-80% of cases remained unidentified.