Last month, Flushing Hospital Medical Center’s Smoking Cessation Team joined with the American Cancer Society and participated in The Great American Smokeout.
The American Cancer Society encourages everyone to take part in the nationwide event which helps to make people aware of the dangers of using tobacco products as well as the tools that are available to help them quit smoking.
The Smoking Cessation Team hosted an informational table in the hospital’s lobby. Visitors and employees were given information on the best ways to quit and the reasons why quitting is beneficial to their health.
Smoking cigarettes affect many aspects of health. Tobacco smoke contains about 7000 chemicals, including low concentrations of such strong poisons as ammonia, cyanide, arsenic and formaldehyde. It also contains 69 carcinogens – substances that are known to cause cancers in humans. Direct association has been established between smoking and cancers of the lung, mouth, nose, throat, larynx, esophagus, colon and rectum, stomach, pancreas, cervix, bladder, kidney and blood.
Flushing Hospital’s Smoking Cessation Team strongly encouraged smokers who stopped by the table to quit, so that they can avoid or minimize the negative effects smoking could have on their health. They also educated smokers about the hospital’s Freedom from Smoking Program and shared the following tips to help them quit smoking:
- Get ready: set a quit date and throw out all cigarettes and ashtrays from your home.
- Get support: tell your family, friends and doctor about quitting plan. You can also search the internet for support groups.
- Learn new behaviors: distract yourself from the urge to smoke by doing physical activities- Exercise or go for a walk.
- Get medication: combining medication like nicotine patches or Zyban with behavioral adaptation and family support quadruples your chances of success.
- Be prepared for relapse and difficult situations- most people try to quit a few times before succeeding.
If you would like to learn more about quitting smoking call the Flushing Hospital Medical Center’s Smoking Cessation Team at 718-670-3146.