Fifty years after the U.S. Surgeon General issued a report linking smoking with cancer, local heath officials said there have been some inroads on educating the public toward to help smokers stomp out that butt permanently.
Health officials say the fight against nicotine has saved approximately 8 million lives in the United States since the report was issued, according to an article published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Fifty years later, we’re still advertising on cigarettes the hazards of tobacco products,” said Ellen Brannan, Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center’s director of clinical and health education. “Fifty years later, all tobacco products have a warning label.”
Sip-N-Smoke owner Neeraj Sharma said the tobacco industry nationwide seems to be on the decline, but he’s seeing more people buy alternatives to traditional cigarettes in the form of electronic cigarettes, which emit water vapor.
“Overall, the market trend has gone down,” said Sharma, who owns another business in Brookhaven. “People are still smoking, but what is hurting sales are higher prices and people worried about their health are looking at other options. They’re more conscious than they used to be.”
Brannan said smoking has a residual effect on those who are around smokers.
“The next message is to ensure smokers know the harm they’re doing to their loved ones,” Brannan said. “Tobacco products contaminate your household environment. (Tobacco) is a physical and mental addiction and has to be treated like any other addiction.”
Brannan said smokers leave a lasting impression long after putting out their cigarette.
“Anybody who comes in contact with a smoker’s environment — whether it’s a home, car or business — is being exposed to cancer-causing agents,” Brannan said.
She said some progress has been made in getting individuals to quit.
“Sure, but in spite of the progress, we’ve still got a long journey to go. I preach over and over again that if you’re not engaged in your health care, you are a victim of your health care.”
SMRMC has a tobacco-free campus. Before it became tobacco-free, Brannan said smokers often left their cigarette butts behind.
“It’s everything that goes with smoking,” Brannan said. “I couldn’t begin to calculate how much money it took to keep the campus clean from people throwing their cigarettes down.”
Registered nurse Tina Holland is one of four Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists in SMRMC’s tobacco cessation program.
The hospital’s smoking cession program, A Comprehensive Tobacco Treatment Program — or ACT — is funded through University Medical Center in Jackson and the state Department of Health.
Holland said the course is free to those who want to quit. The 12-week program has six- nine- and 12-month follow ups.
She said there has been a 50 percent success rate since the program began in 2008.
“It is all on a voluntary basis. People have to call and leave their name and a good working number,” Holland said. “We get back with them and set up an appointment and they fill out an intake form, like a health history form.”
Patients then meet in groups. Holland said some patients fare better in individual settings, while others fare better in groups.
Holland said classes meet once per week for six weeks. Classes at SMRMC are as long as 90 minutes.
“We monitor their vital signs weekly and provide them with vouchers, which pays for their cessation medications,” Holland said. “After six weeks of group meetings, we follow up an additional six weeks with medications for a total of three months of medication and counseling.”
Holland said after the followup visits, patients have completed the course.
“The only thing required of the patients is for them to provide a prescription for their medication,” Holland said. “They are responsible for seeing their own physician for getting the written prescription.”
Holland said it takes will power from those who sincerely want to stop smoking.
“The ones who quit are the ones who are dedicated and made up their minds they’re willing to quit,” Holland said. “They ones who are not really wanting to quit weed themselves out. There is no magic pill.”
More than 42 percent of U.S. adults smoked in the years before the surgeon general’s report, and that rate has fallen to approximately 18 percent.
Brannan compared smoking to owning a home with lead pipes.
“If you owned a home with lead pipes and you knew lead pipes caused you harm, you would change your pipes because you wouldn’t want to slowly poison yourself,” Brannan said.
