PT organizations help locals kick smoking habits
By Jeff Chew, Peninsula Daily News
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So does Jefferson Healthcare hospital on Sheridan Avenue in Port Townsend, which became a smoke-free campus on March 1 that permits neither employees nor patients to smoke indoors or outdoors.
Both public organizations have free information, counseling services and cessation classes to help those who want to quit smoking tobacco.
"One of the things I was amazed about when I first took this job was that most smokers want to quit," said Karen Obermeyer, prevention specialist with the county public health department.
She said the primary smoking age group in the county is between 18 and 35 years old.
That age bracket is willing to take greater risks, she said.
"Some people think it's cool," Obermeyer said.
Teen peer mentoring
Because young people are most prone to start smoking, the county has taken its prevention efforts to school district classrooms through Teens Against Tobacco Use, or TATU.
TATU is a program that allows students between the ages of 14-17 years old to mentor peers about the dangers of smoking.
Evidence suggests that peer-led programs such as TATU are more effective in reducing tobacco use among younger people.
The county also is watching ongoing data provided by Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System phone surveys, through youth and postpartum surveys.
Public Health officials are particularly concerned about pregnant women smoking, and want to stop or prevent it.
"Nicotine constricts the blood vessels, so it constricts nutrients and oxygen to the fetus," said Julia Danskin, county nursing director.
"So women who smoke during pregnancy have low birth-weight babies who are prone to sickness."
Doctors and nurses also are encouraged to ask patients about tobacco use and urge them to quite, Danskin said.
Brenda DiPrete, a pharmacist and smoking cessation counselor who heads Jefferson Healthcare's Tobacco Free Environment Task Force, said it was the support of the hospital board commissioners and doctors that led to the establishment of the hospital campus as a smoke-free zone, effective March 1.
The hospital also offers free cessation programs for employees and their families.
"We tried it six or seven years ago," said DiPrete, who has helped hospital employees and others quit for 10 years.
"The climate wasn't right, and people weren't ready."
But, knowing that other hospitals are going smoke free, the hospital board got on board with the program, she said.
"Plus the law passed," DiPrete added.
On Dec. 8, 2005, Washington became the fifth state in the nation to put into effect a comprehensive statewide law prohibiting smoking in all indoor public places and workplaces, including restaurants, bars, taverns, bowling alleys, skating rinks, and non-tribal casinos.
All state residents have the right to breathe clean air, the law said, the intention being to protect families, children, workers and the elderly from secondhand smoke.
Smokers have been unable to light up within 25 feet of doors and windows of public buildings since December 2005 when Initiative 901 went into effect, after it was approved by 63 percent of voters.
Danskin said that about one call is month is made to the public health department, complaining about a smoker violating the law.
"We've not had much problems or complaints," she said, adding that the main complaints are about smokers on sidewalks in front of a building.
The 1997 tobacco companies lawsuit settlement reached with then-Attorney General Chris Gregoire and 38 other attorneys generals was a boost to tobacco cessation programs.
The settlement required tobacco companies to pay more than $300 billion in reimbursements to the states for tax dollars spent to treat Medicaid patients for smoking-related illnesses.
The companies also were to pay $50 billion in punitive damages for past violations of the law.
The money has been used to fund children's health programs and a $25 billion trust fund for health care related issues.
Information available
While Obermeyer is a treasure trove of information and assistance when it comes to helping smokers quit, DiPrete's smoking cessation program at the hospital also offers pharmaceutical help, including nicotine patches, gum and lozenges — even a nicotine inhaler.
The drug, Champix, is also available. It is specially formulated to make cigarettes taste bad, thus eliminating the craving and addiction.
What the smoke-free zone at the hospital means is that employees must smoke off-campus at all times, while patients aren't permitted to smoke at all.
The hospital gives patients who smoke the nicotine patch upon admittance, if they need it to not smoke while in the hospital.
Before patients are released, DiPrete said, they are counseled and given information about the state Tobacco Quit Line, and other pamphlets about planning to quit.
"I would say the majority are very receptive to counseling," DiPrete said.
"They don't say they smoke because they are addicted. They say they like it and need to smoke.
"They all say I know I have to quit. They just don't."
DiPrete offers free classes at the hospital through the end of May.
For more information, phone 360-385-2200, Ext. 2300, or inquire at the hospital at 834 Sheridan St. Port Townsend.
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Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: April 29. 2008 9:00PM