Tennesseans Join Millions of Americans in Saying “No Thanks” to Cigarettes on November 20
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 | 05:09am
NASHVILLE − This year’s Great American Smokeout will take place November 20, 2008, to encourage smokers to quit for 24 hours in the hope they may quit for good. The Tennessee Department of Health encourages tobacco users to call the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine at 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669 to set a plan for how to quit.
“Thousands of Tennesseans have already reached out to the QuitLine and its quit coaches to help them through the difficult process of quitting smoking,” said Tennessee Health Commissioner Susan R. Cooper, MSN, RN. “We know this service is a valuable tool to those who want to stop using tobacco, and we urge other smokers to take the Smokeout challenge to quit for just one day and call the QuitLine to start their own plan to quit for good.”
The Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine offers personalized support for Tennessee residents who want to quit smoking by connecting them with trained coaches to guide them through the quitting process. Callers will receive ongoing professional coaching via individually scheduled calls with a quit coach personally assigned to them. This convenient and confidential service is free and available to Tennessee residents in both English and Spanish. The service is also available for the deaf and hard-of-hearing at TTY 1-877-559-3816.
QuitLine callers also have complimentary access to relapse prevention techniques, printed resource materials, information on nicotine replacement therapies and other services to aid in the quitting process.
Smoking cessation services are also available at Tennessee’s county health department clinics. All patients are screened for tobacco use and asked if they are interested in quitting. Those who want to quit are evaluated by medical professionals to determine the best course of treatment to help them stop smoking. These services are offered on a sliding fee scale based on income.
Smoking is responsible for almost one in five deaths in the United States, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking accounts for approximately 9,400 deaths in Tennessee every year, nearly half of which are due to lung cancer. Secondhand smoke is another serious problem in Tennessee. An estimated 1,730 Tennesseans die every year due to exposure to secondhand smoke.
Since October 1, 2007, when enforcement of Tennessee’s Non-Smokers Protection Act began, through September of this year, more than 14,800 calls have come into the QuitLine. More than 3,600 Tennesseans enrolled in the iCanQuit coaching program during that time.
The benefits of quitting tobacco are significant and almost immediate. Within 20 minutes of giving up tobacco, elevated blood pressure and pulse decrease; in two days, nerve endings regenerate; in two weeks, circulation improves; in one to nine months fatigue and shortness of breath decrease; and in one year, the risk of a heart attack is cut in half.
The Great American Smokeout officially began in 1977, but the event may have been inspired by Arthur P. Mullaney in 1971, when he asked people in Randolph, Mass., to give up smoking for the day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. In 1974, Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, initiated that state's first D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day. Word spread throughout Minnesota and then west to California, where it eventually became the Great American Smokeout.
The Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine is a statewide toll-free telephone tobacco cessation treatment program made possible through the Tennessee Department of Health.There is no charge to callers for services and callers have unlimited access to a quit coach through the QuitLine. Hours are Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. CST.