Stop Smoking Way

Glencoe Regional Health Services, Hutchinson Area Health Care and Hutchinson Medical Center have recently gone to totally tobacco-free campuses. Ridgewater College in Hutchinson will have a tobacco-free campus beginning in August, 2008.

According to the National Cancer Institute, tobacco use is the most common preventable cause of death. About half of the people who don’t quit smoking will die of smoking-related problems.

There’s no way around it. Smoking is bad for your health. Smoking harms nearly every organ of the body. Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. It is also responsible for many other cancers and health problems. These include lung disease, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke and cataracts. Women who smoke have a greater chance of certain pregnancy problems or having a baby die from sudden infant death syndrome.

Your smoke is also bad for other people – they breathe in your smoke secondhand and can get many of the same problems as smokers do. It makes sense that the primary health care providers in McLeod County would expand their efforts to improve the health of the population by assuring a tobacco-free environment for their patients and their staff.

All cigarettes can damage the human body. Any smoking is dangerous. Cigarettes are the only legal product whose advertised and intended use — smoking — is harmful to the body and causes cancer.

Quitting is not easy. You may have short-term effects such as weight gain, irritability and anxiety. Some people try several times before succeeding. There are many ways to quit smoking. Some people stop “cold turkey.” Others benefit from step-by-step manuals, counseling or medicines or products that help reduce nicotine addiction. Your health care provider can help you find the best way for you to quit.

Everyone in Minnesota can take advantage of a stop-smoking program that offers personal support. There is no cost to you — whether you are covered by a health plan or not. Those who have no health insurance, or whose insurance does not cover quitting assistance, are eligible to participate in the statewide program: Research shows that those who use a phone counseling program are much more likely to succeed.

Minnesota’s Tobacco Phone Counseling Programs

If you have one of these health plans, call the number listed:

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota* and Blue Plus* 1-888-662-BLUE

CCStpa 1-888-662-QUIT

First Plan of Minnesota* 1-888-662-BLUE

HealthPartners 1-800-311-1052

Medica 1-866-QUIT-4-LIFE

MCHA MEMBERS 1-866-QUIT-4-LIFE

(Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association)

Metropolitan Health Plan 1-800-292-2336

Preferred One 1-800-292-2336

Community Health Plan

UCare Minnesota 1-888-642-5566

For everyone else:

QUITPLAN SM Helpline 1-888-354-PLAN

TTY and language interpretation available through most phone counseling lines.

This information provided through the collaborative efforts of Minnesota’s tobacco phone counseling programs.

*Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

Related posts:

• Smoking program aims to kick habit
• How’s the smoking ban rank with you?
• State offers free stop smoking kits
• Smoking Cessation or How Stop Smoking in Nowdays
• State’s Anti-Smoking Plan Makes Cents

Tags: Quit smoking, Smoking harms