AHS program aims to help Albertans quit using tobacco

By Gillian Slade on October 17, 2017.

Medicine Hat News

Find Your Stride is a program by Alberta Health Services to motivate and encourage people who use tobacco, or who have recently quit, to become more physically active.

Find Your Stride will be held 6:30-8 p.m. on Tuesdays, starting Oct. 24, at the Southridge YMCA, 644 Spruce Way SE.

Please call Michelle Sauvé 403-529-3529 to register or for more information.

The eight-week program, facilitated by health professionals, includes a combination of walking, running and stretching regimes, as well as an education component where you and fellow participants can discuss topics like benefits of physical activity, goal setting, healthy eating, injury prevention, information on tobacco and cessation, and how to remain active.

The program provides tools to develop personal motivation to become more physically active and improve your health based on the knowledge, support and personal achievements gained throughout the program.

Support will be provided to quit or reduce tobacco use but quitting tobacco is not a requirement for participation. As you embrace a more healthy lifestyle you may be more likely to let go of unhealthy habits such as using tobacco.

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and premature death in Alberta, causing more than 3,000 deaths each year across the province. Many more Albertans have tobacco-related illnesses.

AHS offers various programs and services to help Albertans quit tobacco, including telephone and online support services, one-on-one counselling and group cessation programs, such as QuitCore. The program, which launched in 2008, is now available in more than 25 communities across the province.