UCSF Encourages Smokers to Quit on Great American Smokeout Day
To promote awareness about the health hazards of tobacco, the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at UCSF is encouraging smokers to quit today (Nov. 18) with the hope that they may quit for good as the campus commemorates this year’s Great American Smokeout.
For more information about quitting, please contact the Tobacco Education Center at 415/885-7895.
The UCSF community is invited to receive up-to-date cessation information at UCSF’s Great American Smokeout event, today from 8 to 9:30 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Medical Sciences building lobby on the Parnassus campus.
The American Cancer Society is marking the 35th Great American Smokeout today by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. “By doing so, smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life – one that can lead to reducing cancer risk.”
This year, the American Cancer Society’s theme is “Help create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.”
Tobacco addiction causes 438,000 deaths in the United States each year, making it the leading preventable cause of death. In addition, some 8.6 million Americans live with serious smoking-related illness.
Suzanne Harris, RN, CTTS, from the UCSF Tobacco Education Center (TEC), will answer questions about the services that the TEC offers to anyone from the UCSF community and UCSF Medical Center. Referrals can be made by providers as well as participants. People can learn more about the Cessation Group Program and the Relapse Prevention Support Group and get individual consultations.
Also, as part of UCSF’s new efforts in eHealth, a UCSF team based at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH) has adapted their scientifically tested stop-smoking website to a standalone iPhone application. The app, called “UCSF/SFGH Stop Smoking,” lets users carry effective tools for quitting wherever they go, and like the team’s stop-smoking website, is available in Spanish and English. In celebration of the Great American Smokeout, the app will be available at a 20 percent discount from the iTunes store for $3.99 today (Nov. 18).
Related Links:
Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education