The Tuscarawas County Health Department Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Program is continuing to educate those wanting to stop using nicotine products.
The program, possible through a state grant, is used in a variety of outreach efforts, explains Public Health Educator Lana Schrock.
“To help fund educational events and presentations and just provide resources in general to the public. Get the word out there that if you want to quit smoking there is help, there’s no shame in asking for help. We just try to put it right out there for the public and encourage them to come a talk with us.”
Another major resource is the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line.
“They offer free quit counseling to all Ohioans regardless of insurance status or income. On their website they also offer quit calculator tools, quizzes, they offer a lot of strategies to help keep you on the quitting side of things.”
Schrock points out that health benefits can also come from ending nicotine use, such as improved blood pressures, heart rate, and circulation.
“Within one to nine months of quitting you’re going to start to see a decrease in coughing and that shortness of breath, and then within the next few years, your rates of heart disease and cancer like mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder, your chance of getting those is reduced by half.
Not buying the products can also have potential savings of up to $2,000 per year.
For more information on the program, go online to www.tchdnow.org.
Copyright WTUZ Radio Inc., 2015