Take your best shot at a fun vacation and help prevent pneumococcal pneumonia
This post has been sponsored by Pfizer.
Hello friends, August is National Immunization Awareness month, and today I am once again partnering with Pfizer to discuss how I am taking my best shot at an amazing year of travel – while taking steps to help prevent pneumococcal pneumonia.
At the young age of 70, I desire to take every precaution I can, especially when Mr. B and I want to travel and enjoy life around us.
Consistency with a healthy diet, exercise, vitamins, rest, and a vaccination plan made with my healthcare provider for me as an asthmatic all make up what I believe is the winning combination for a healthy life.
I share often with you that I have asthma and I see a specialist to help me protect my lungs and enjoy an active life outdoors and travel with confidence.
One of the considerations is how to help prevent pneumococcal pneumonia, since my asthma puts me at greater risk for it.
Pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt our lives for weeks. In severe cases, it can mean hospitalization and even be life-threatening.
I was not aware of this until I began to work on this campaign and now it has my full attention.
As do many conditions, the risk for pneumococcal pneumonia increases with age and certain chronic medical conditions.
If you’re 65 or older, or 19 or older with a condition like diabetes, chronic heart disease, chronic lung disease, or in my case, asthma, you are at greater risk for pneumococcal pneumonia.
At age 68, I began to take pneumococcal pneumonia seriously and spoke to my physician about vaccination.
Now that I am 70, I make sure to understand how helping to prevent this potentially serious disease is an important part of my health plan.
The immune system naturally weakens with age, so even if you’re healthy and active, being 65 or older is a key risk factor for pneumococcal pneumonia.
Adults aged 65 or older are over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia than adults aged 18-49.
We should understand these two important points:
- Getting vaccinated can help protect us from pneumococcal pneumonia.
- Pneumococcal pneumonia can strike any time of year, so now is the time we should be discussing this with our doctors or pharmacists.
Then, what should we do?
- Visit KnowPneumonia.com to learn more about the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia.
- Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about pneumococcal vaccination. I reached out to my doctor for the discussion about the vaccination and it was a beneficial one.
Pneumococcal pneumonia shouldn’t stand in the way of taking our best shot at life and living a vibrant healthy lifestyle.
I want to help protect myself so I can enjoy the moments that matter. So get your shot, then take your shot!
KEEP SMILING!
By Pamela Lutrell
Disclaimer: I was compensated for this post by Pfizer.