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Smoking Cessation
The Great American Smokeout
Quitting smoking is
actually one of the most difficult things that many
will ever do, and even the most motivated smokers
may attempt to quit 5 or 6 times before they are
finally successful.
Thursday, November 15 will be the 30th
annual
Great American Smokeout*, a day initiated by the American Cancer
Society to encourage smokers to quit for a day in
the hopes that they may decide to quit for a
lifetime. Four decades after the 1964 U.S. Surgeon
General Report on the health consequences of
smoking, smoking still remains the leading cause of
preventable death and disease. Each year,
approximately 440,000 Americans die of
smoking-related illnesses and an estimated 50,000
non-smokers die of illnesses related to secondhand
smoke.
Over 3 million Americans are successful in quitting
each year. At any given time, 70% of all smokers
will say that they want to quit. And more than ever,
there are numerous effective treatment options to
help support any tobacco user in his or her attempt
to quit using tobacco for good. These treatment
options include brief counseling by a health care
provider, nicotine replacement therapy or other
smoking cessation medications, smoking cessation
specialty clinic services, free state-based
telephone counseling quit lines, and online
services.
Because veterans in care in our health care system
are much more likely to smoke and much more likely
to have smoking-related illnesses, tobacco use
cessation is a public health priority for VA. Please
remember that quitting smoking is one of the hardest
things your patients (or co-workers) may ever have
to do, please let them know that they don’t have to
do it alone. We encourage you to observe the Great
American Smokeout at your facility. Use the day to
raise awareness about smoking cessation and the full
range of services available in the VA health care
system.
To help make the observance of the Great American Smokeout a success,
please utilize the many resources, links, and materials available
throughout this website. We would encourage you to develop creative
ideas for using these and other materials at your facility - and to
please send in an email and share your ideas with us.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Use the day to ask every patient who smokes
that you see, “Do you want help with quitting
smoking today?”
- Order the VHA clinician pocket card, Helping
Smokers Quit: A Guide for Clinicians, through
your Forms and Publication Officer. The IB
number is 10-96 and the P number is P96189.
Please distribute these pocket guides on how to
provide brief smoking cessation counseling to
health care providers and trainees at your site.
- Post a flyer that promotes your smoking
cessation clinic or 1-800-Quit-Now, the national
number for free, state telephone counseling quit
lines, at all of your outdoor smoking shelters.
- Organize Smokeout activities for your
employees, and make them aware that they may be
able to get coverage for smoking cessation
counseling and medications through their
insurer. Also, let them know about
1-800-Quit-Now and the availability of low cost
nicotine gum through VA canteens.
- Organize a Grand Rounds or lunch time
seminar on effective smoking cessation
treatment.
- You are also encouraged to order full-color
smoking cessation 8’” X 11” posters that are
available in the VHA Publications Depot. Please
order these through your Publications and Forms
Officer. They are VA Poster 10-84, P96190 and VA
Poster 10-85, P96191. The PDFs for these posters
are attached below.
Help someone commit to a “smoke-free” day on
November 15. If you have any questions about smoking
and tobacco use cessation, please contact Dr. Kim
Hamlett-Berry at
kim.hamlett@va.gov. Please use the Great
American Smokeout to raise awareness about the many
advances in smoking cessation treatment that are now
available to help someone quit for not just a day
but for good.
Additional resources on smoking and tobacco use
cessation can be found on in the
Provider Resources section of the Smoking
Cessation website.
* External Link Disclaimer:
All the links marked with asterisk ( * ) are External links. By clicking on
these links, you will leave the Department of Veterans Affairs Website. VA does
not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked website. Links
will open in a new browser window.
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