Today’s health-conscious Americans want more smoke-free environments in which to shop, eat, and relax. If you have not yet implemented a smoke-free policy, the Great American Smokeout is the perfect opportunity to begin the process, or the best day to start your new policy. Smokeout activities should not only focus on adult cessation but youth and advocacy, for all ages.
Schools and communities can get involved in several ways:
• Host a Smokeout event with a local fitness facility to show customers the benefits of being healthy and smoke-free.
• Have an American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout sale where customers get special deals on November 15, 2007.
• Invite a motivational speaker who has “quit the habit” to give youth motivation and the power to say no. The speaker can talk about how he/she did it successfully and how quitting smoking has improved his/her life.
• Ask the school newspaper to cover tobacco issues, including health effects, cost of using tobacco, social ramifications, and the marketing practices of the tobacco industry.
• Put on a Smokeout comedy show at a school assembly. Aspiring stand-up comedians can perform routines and skits about how difficult it is to quit smoking and how many people die from tobacco use.
• Go to www.acscan.org to become a cancer advocate and lobby for smoke-free laws.
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Centers for health in the community are great locations for promoting a healthy lifestyle among patients and staff and for helping the American Cancer Society promote the Great American Smokeout.
Listed are ideas on ways to participate:
• Display Smokeout materials throughout the hospital, including employee lounges.
• Host Smokeout stations where smokers can trade cigarettes or spit tobacco products for chewing gum, breath mints, carrot sticks, or lollipops to help them “lick” the addiction.
• Incorporate Smokeout into a community health promotion. Arrange for blood pressure screenings, fitness activities, and nutrition counseling.
• The American Cancer Society offers a list of cessation resources and information to help tobacco users quit. The American Cancer Society Quitline services are available in some states, which offers free telephone counseling, advice, and materials for smokers trying to quit. Call 1-800-ACS-2345 24-hours a day for more information. |
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Many workplaces around the country are implementing smoke-free policies to provide clean indoor air and protect employees from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke. By implementing smoke-free policies and encouraging employees to become smoke-free, everyone benefits with potential increased productivity, fewer sick days, and lowered insurance claims. The increasing public support of smoke-free environments also makes the Great American Smokeout a perfect day to initiate new non-smoking policies.
Here are some ways your workplace can take part:
• Host No-Smoke Breaks or organized walks when everyone can take a fresh-air breather and relax, as they DON’T light up. • Help pay for a membership to a nearby health club for quitting smokers who are worried about stress and weight gain.
• Hold an informal breakfast for smokers and for adoptive non-smokers. Treat them with special American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout materials.
• Set up Smokeout stations where smokers can trade cigarettes or spit tobacco products for chewing gum, breath mints, carrot sticks, or pretzels to help them kick the habit.
• Where appropriate, promote the American Cancer Society cessation resources to employees at 1-800-ACS-2345. |
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