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May 23, 2008
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Helping Chicagoans Kick the Smoking Habit
Over
two score dedicated professionals, community activists and concerned tobacco cessation
advocates met last September to plan how to capitalize on the just passed Smoke
Free Illinois law. These professionals are committed to reducing tobacco use and
increasing quit attempts in Chicago despite significant government funding cuts
for smoking cessation and prevention programs.
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reduce adult smoking...
reduce teen smoking...
increase quit attempts |
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They
named their program Chicago Second Wind (C2W) Summit: A Chicagoland Smoking
Cessation Initiative and met well into the evening to formulate how to
achieve four key goals by 2010:
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Reduce
adult smoking prevalence to 14% from its current 19.1%.
Reduce teen smoking prevalence
to 16% from its current 21.7%.
Increase smoker's quit attempts to 80% from the current 60%.
Double utilization of the Illinois Tobacco QuitLine
each year. |
C2W's founders identified five strategies to address their ambitious goals:
1. Educate health care providers on patient smoking cessation interventions
2. Recruit community organizations as smoking cessation resources
3. Shape policy issues related to smoking cessation
4. Develop targeted public cessation awareness campaigns
5. Engage in fundraising activities to finance smoking cessation projects
The
hard work of the Chicago 2nd Wind volunteers has resulted in a significant list of achievements including:
- Holding a city-wide Quit Day
in January, 2008 which distributed 2,000 Quit Kits to smokers.
- Establishing a Speakers
Bureau to carry the Chicago 2nd Wind message to community organizations.
- Presenting Tobacco Cessation Practice Guidelines
to the professional staff at Chicago area health care facilities.
| These accomplishments have already garnered the notice
of one of Chicago's leading newspapers, The Chicago Tribune, which said
of C2W in their editorial of February 27, 2008, "[a]nd who knows how many smokers
have used this [smoking] ban to work up the gumption to quit? Since January, a
coalition called Chicago Second Wind....has distributed more than 2,000 'quit
kits' that provide tips and assistance for smokers to stop."
C2W efforts
this spring will focus on the success of their January Quit Day with a repeat
effort on May 27th in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day.
To
find out how you or your organization can participate in Chicago Second Wind's
efforts contact Donna Scrutchins,
chair of the Recruiting Community-Based Organizations Committee. To subscribe
to this publication, Wind Currents, the Chicago 2nd Wind Newsletter contact
Mamta Gakhar.
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The 2nd Wind Committees
Five
committees drive the core activities of Chicago 2nd Wind's (C2W) efforts. These
committees were formed at the September 2007 summit and in concert implement the
C2W mission and goals.
Carol Southard, RN MSN, chairs the Provider Education
(PE) committee, C2W's largest with 60 members. Carol's passion for cessation
is legend in the community and her energy infuses every PE committee meeting.
The committee's guiding principle is the evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline
for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence published by the US Public Health Service.
The Clinical Practice Guidelines specifically recommends that health care institutions
execute system-level changes to promote both the recognition of and treatment
for tobacco use.
Donna
Scrutchins chairs the Recruiting Community-Based Organizations
committee whose mission is to inform the public of smoking cessation
resources available through local service delivery groups. Each member organization on this committee
has volunteered to be a site for smoking cessation services with at least one
staff member trained in smoking cessation techniques. Some of the organizations
on this committee are the Howard Brown Health Center, the Korean American Community
Services, Human Resources Development Institute, Lawndale Christian Health Center,
Mt. Sinai Institute, the Chicago Department of Public Health, and the Sadley Austin
Law Firm.
Janet
Williams chairs the Policy and Advocacy committee which
formulates recommendations about policy initiatives supporting tobacco cessation
and enlists partners to help promote cessation-related legislation in the Illinois
General Assembly.
Rounding out the five committee chairs are Prince
Riley of the Targeted Public Awareness Campaign committee
and Jim Gardner of the Fundraising committee.
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Wind
Currents Looks to the Pros
Although our publication is small,
we aim for a first rate product you can rely on for high quality information about
smoking cessation and related issues. To help with this goal, we have assembled
our very own Wind Currents' team of unusually dedicated professionals to review
major articles for accuracy, originality and relevance to smoking cessation. These
professionals come from epidemiology, public health and smoking cessation.
Kirsti
Bocskay, PhD, MPH is an epidemiologist with the Chicago Department of
Public Health. Kirsti received her PhD from Columbia University in Environmental
Health Sciences; her MPH from Columbia's Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health;
her undergraduate degree is in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University
of Michigan's College of Engineering. Kirsti is the principle or contributing
author for recent articles in Environmental & Molecular Mutagenesis, Proceedings
of the American Association for Cancer Research and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers
& Prevention. Kirsti has been principle or contributing epidemiologist to more
than a dozen recent reports published by the Chicago Department of Public Health's
Office of Epidemiology. Kirsti also presented a paper at last year's Chicago Asthma
Consortium Tenth Annual Data Workshop.
Simone Koehlinger, Psy.D,
Director of the Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Health at
the Chicago Department of Public Health. Simone is responsible for citywide programs
to increase the health care access of and provider competency towards patients
who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, a population with a high
prevalence of tobacco use. Simone also co-chairs the Chicago LGBT Taskforce
for Substance Use and Abuse and participates in a number of local health and advocacy
groups. Prior to joining the Health Department, Simone served as a Project Coordinator
for research on HIV prevention and tobacco cessation at Howard Brown Health Center.
Lynda Preckwinkle, BA, RRT, Manager of the Illinois Tobacco
Quitline and a well-known presence in the tobacco cessation community.
Reason
Reyes, Technical Assistance Manager for the Smoking Cessation Leadership
Center (SCLC), a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with significant
support from the American Legacy Foundation. SCLC's goal is to increase smoking
cessation rates among current smokers and to increase the number of health professionals
committed to helping their patients who smoke quit. At SCLC, she provides leadership
and coordination to numerous partnerships by serving as their liaison to SCLC.
Although she lives in San Francisco, Reason is an active participant in Chicago
Second Wind's activities.
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C2W Plans QD2
The
Chicago Second Wind (C2W) cessation specialists are planning another, even bigger
Tobacco Quit Day on May 27th in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day 2008.
This next event builds on the success of the C2W January 4th Chicagoland Quit
Day when 2000 Quit Kits were handed out to smokers at 16 locations all over the
city and earned C2W accolades in a February 27th Chicago Tribune editorial.
"The
goal for the May Quit Day is to distribute 5000 Quit Kits at 50% more locations,"
said Stacy Ignoffo of the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago,
one of the organizers of the event. Stacy also praised Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
for taking a lead in the next Quit Day and the other enthusiastic and generous
supporters of the upcoming event which include the Chicago Department of Public
Health, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago and Illinois Maternal
& Child Health Coalition.
Among the many participants in the January event
were Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the American Lung Association, Rush University
Medical Center, Howard Brown Health Center and Affinity Community Services.
Donna
Scrutchins of the Chicago Department of Public Health's Office of Substance Abuse
& Tobacco Control Programs told Wind Currents, "[t]he Quit Kit distribution
sites are selected for maxim impact on individuals who smoke. Our whole purpose
with Quit Day and the free Quit Kits is to give smokers a 'jump start' on a tobacco-free
life."
As in January, the free Quit Kits will include samples of nicotine
replacement products and other items proven to help smokers deal with the quitting
process; items such as stress relievers and even hard candy. Of course, each Quit
Kit will have information about programs and techniques smokers can use to pick
a quitting process best suited to their personal situation. Stacy emphasized that
the Quit Kits, "are based upon experience – it's what ex-smokers have told us
was important as part of their quit effort."
The Quit Day event is more
than just Quit Kits, however. Trained cessation counselors will be available at
many locations to discuss specific questions smokers or associates of smokers
may have about how to successfully kick the tobacco habit or help some one else's
efforts to quit. Carol Southard, RN, MSN, Tobacco Treatment Specialist at the
Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group Wellness Institute, told Wind Currents
that, "65% of smokers who relapse want to quit again within 30 days and we need
to be there for them as often as it takes."
C2W organizers want to make
it easy to find a Chicagoland Quit Day location on the 27th so they have posted the Quit Day sites on-line at:
http://www.communitywalk.com/chicago/il/quit_kit_sites_may_2008/map/245312
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| Wind Currents Publisher and Editorial Staff |
| Wind
Currents is free to professionals in the Chicago area who are concerned about
with tobacco cessation. It is published every other month with special editions for significant events
or developments throughout the year. |
| Executive Publisher |
Chicago 2nd Wind: Chicagoland Smoking Cessation Initiative Executive Committee:
Stacy
Ignoffo and Mamta Gakhar, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
Donna
Scrutchins, Tobacco Program Administrator, Office of Substance Abuse and Tobacco
Control Programs, Chicago Department of Public Health
Carol Southard, Tobacco
Treatment Specialist Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group Wellness Institute |
| Publisher |
Mamta Gakhar, Respiratory Health Association of
Metropolitan Chicago, 1440 West Washington Blvd., Chicago, IL 60607, mgakhar@lungchicago.org |
| Editor |
Pamela McCann, Office of LGBT
Health, Chicago Department of Public Health, mccann_pamela@cdph.org |
| Copy Editor |
Joanne Hafner, RN, MS, Assoc. Project Dir., Division of
Quality Measurement & Research, The Joint Commission, jhafner@jointcommission.org |
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Original articles are always welcome. Contact Pamela
McCann at mccann_pamela@cdph.orgfor further information.
For subscription
information contact Mamta Gakhar at mgakhar@lungchicago.org.
Media, non-profit health, mental health, and tobacco treatment
organizations and professionals are welcome to quote the news, statistics, analysis
and opinions in this newsletter with attribution: "Wind Currents, Chicago 2nd
Wind Newsletter [issue month] [issue year] [article title]" Others interested
are invited to contact the Editor for permissions. | |
