Viva Vitality: Services available to help smokers quit

By Medicine Hat News on December 22, 2017.

“You’ve come a long way, baby.”

Some of you may remember this famous slogan from a very successful advertising campaign launched in the late 1960s. It was the provocative tagline for a new, thinner cigarette produced by the Phillip Morris Company and marketed specifically to women. The campaign was wildly successful, selling a lot of cigarettes, and became an instant national catch-phrase. This campaign convinced thousands of teenage girls to take up smoking as a sexy, free-wheeling and even revolutionary act. It cashed in on the 1960s emerging feminist consciousness and the rise of”the New Woman,” a woman who was independent, self-sufficient, and eager to demonstrate her equality and confidence. As it happened, the only equality this campaign ended up supporting involved lung cancer. Today, women and men dieat similar rates from that disease.

Can you remember when smoking was permitted in shopping malls? How about smoking in a college classroom or cafeteria? Did anyone start smoking in high school, I mean inside the high school in the smoking room? Remember when the air was hazy with smoke above the ice surface at hockey games? Who remembers when the last three rows on an airplane or bus was the smoking section? Or when restaurants had a non-smoking section beside a smoking section? It all seems a little absurd now. Did you ever send your minor child to the store to buy cigarettes for you? Giving them money and they came back with cigarettes and change? That seems quite unbelievable now.

Time passes, things change and fortunately we have “come a long way” in helping people quit smoking and to keep them from starting. It’s not hard to connect that when there was little restriction on where you could smoke, people smoked more and more people smoked. When tobacco was seemingly inexpensive, people smoked more and more people smoked. When there was little support to help smokers quit, people smoked more and more people smoked. The smoking rate in Canada in the late-1960s was almost 50 per cent. Nearly half of the population smoked! Today the smoking rate in Canada is only 16 per cent; tobacco regulation and taxation contribute to this decline.

Maybe you would like to make a change and take advantage of some of the great services available. If you are interested in quitting there are many options and resources available to help you quit. You don’t have to do this alone. Ask for support from your doctor and/or health care professional and check out these programs:

AlbertaQuits Helpline — information, counselling and referral, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week. Trained cessation counsellors will help you develop a quit plan, deal with cravings and tricky situations and provide ongoing support throughout your quit.

Free, confidential helpline, 1-866-710-QUIT (7848)

AlbertaQuits Online — Click to quit with powerful tools, advice and 24/7 support. Get prepared, make a plan and stay motivated with tips by email.

http://www.albertaquits.ca — Free web-based support, anytime, anywhere.

AlbertaQuits Text — Get quit tips and support sent straight to your smart phone. Available to Alberta residents only. Support is just a text away.

AlbertaQuits Groups — Quit Core is a group support program led by trained leaders. This free program teaches quitting support techniques and connects you with others who are also quitting.

Quit Core is a free group cessation program that provides support for adults 18 and older. The program teaches quitting support techniques and connects you with others who are also quitting. You will learn about your habit and how to design a quit plan that works best for you. The program includes six sessions that teach you how to quit in the most effective way possible. Call the Helpline to find Quit Core group start dates near you.

The next Medicine Hat Quit Core group starts Jan. 9. There is no fee, but you must pre-register by calling the Helpline at 1-866-710-QUIT (7848). The group will run weekly for six weeks from 5 to 6:30 p.m. and will be held at Community Health Services on Dunmore Road. Call now to register, the class is filling up!

Rita Aman is a health promotion facilitator with Alberta Health Services and can be reached by email at rita.aman@ahs.ca