QuitLine aims to help smokers kick habit
Free kits are available to help people keep their New Year's Resolution.
By MIKE SPENCE
The Pueblo West View
As New Year’s 2009 approaches, thousands of tobacco users have quitting as their top resolution.
Many times, tobacco users do not prepare for the quitting process or do not know what to expect - leading them to unexpected obstacles and possible relapses. By using the Colorado QuitLine, a free telephone coaching service for quitting tobacco, people have the support and tools to quit for the long term.
Those who use the QuitLine along with the patch are nine times more likely to quit successfully compared to those who quit on their own. The Colorado QuitLine reminds its users of the immediate and lifelong benefits of quitting.
The Pueblo City-County Health Department and the Pueblo Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership (PTEPP) would like to help tobacco users with their News Year’s resolution. One way PTEPP wants to offer help is by providing free New Year’s quit smoking kits. Contents of the kits include self-help information for those who want to quit on their own, information on medications to help quit and information on the Colorado QuitLine.
Kits are available at the following locations:
* Blende Drug, 1910 Santa Fe Drive
* Jeff’s Pharmacy in Colorado City
* Lamb Library Branch, 2525 S. Pueblo Blvd.
* Barkman Library Branch, 1300 Jerry Murphy
* Rawlings Library, 100 E. Abriendo
Kits may also be picked up in the lobbies of the Pueblo City-County Health Department located at 151 Central Main Street and 205 N. Santa Fe Drive. For more information call Shylo Dennison, Health Educator, at 583-4334.
Need a little more motivation to quit? Here are some of the benefits of quitting:
Top 10 Reasons to Quit
1. Have a stronger immune system.
2. Breathe better and cough less.
3. Have a better sense of taste and smell.
4. Have more energy.
5. Save money (average Colorado smoker spends $1,800 per year on cigarettes).
6. Eliminate exposure to harmful secondhand smoke.
7. Decrease the risk of heart disease.
8. Decrease the risk of strokes.
9. Decrease the risk of cancer (lung, mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, cervix and pancreas).
10. Increase life span by 5 to 12 years.
To contact the Colorado QuitLine, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit www.coquitline.org. The QuitLine is operated by National Jewish Health under contract to the State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership. It offers free telephone and online services to English- and Spanish-speaking Colorado residents. The QuitLine coaches are available Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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