Local News - January 2003

‘Kinder’ approach offered smokers

Freshstart

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

January 3, 2003 - One of the most popular resolutions Americans make each New Year is to quit smoking.

Of the millions who try to break the habit, only a small percentage actually follows through. Few people know how to go about quitting or getting the support they need, leading to the low success rate.

Lincoln Medical Center and the Lincoln County Family YMCA want to increase would-be quitters’ chances by sponsoring Freshstart, a four-part program created by the American Cancer Society that could have smokers on the path to stopping in two weeks.

Between Thursday and Jan. 14, participants will meet in the Wellness Center of the YMCA, located at 1402 E. Gaston St., every Tuesday and Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m.

Anyone who signed up for the program had to post a refundable $25 deposit, which applicants can get back if they attend all four sessions. Participants who miss a session will automatically have their money donated to the American Cancer Society.

Mollie Taylor, coordinator for the Physicians In-Service Education Program at LMC, said Freshstart takes a “kinder” approach to helping smokers. Rather than using scare tactics, the program utilizes a support group similar to Alcoholics Anonymous to address the physical and psychological effects of smoking.

“Most people do better if they have support,” Taylor said. “If you’re going through the same thing that someone else is going through, you’ve got that support system.”

Taylor has added credibility as part of the Freshstart support system. For more than 30 years, she went through at least a pack of cigarettes a day.

While working in the emergency room one day, Taylor saw a patient slowly suffocating from the effects of emphysema, an incurable lung disease. The frightening sight led her to immediately throw out her last cigarettes.

“I just decided that was not the way I wanted to go,” Taylor said.

As its name suggests, Freshstart is the first step in quitting for many people. The average smoker makes seven attempts to stop before succeeding.

Community Relations Coordinator Courtney Myers said LMC will likely hold the program on several more occasions for people who are attempting to quit for the first time and those who require more support.

Taylor warns that just enrolling in the program doesn’t guarantee success. She said a person’s chances are helped if they are simultaneously trying other things like nicotine patches.

If a smoker can quit, however, she believes all the effort is worth it.

“When you have mastered it and it hasn’t mastered you, there is such a feeling of accomplishment,” she said. “It helps people believe there are other things in their life they can do or change.”

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For more information on Freshstart, contact Mollie Taylor at 704-732-5542.

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