Spokane City Council President shares how he quit smoking.
SPOKANE, Wash. - Every third Thursday in November, the American Cancer Society holds their “Great American Smoke-Out” event. The annual intervention aims to get people to quit smoking.
In the United States today there are more former smokers than current smokers. It's a win for health advocates but with over thirty million Americans smoking cigarettes there's still a ways to go.
The Center for Disease Control reports that people living below poverty level have higher rates of cigarette use. Now, more attention is being paid to making quitting more accessible and affordable.
“If you think about spending $50 on a box of patches, that can be cost prohibitive to stop smoking,” said Spokane City Council President Ben Stuckart.
He made the decision last month to give it up for good, but his doctor didn't sign off on his nicotine patches by his quit date so he headed to CHAS Health.
He explained, “if you don't have the money they will still see you there. For $8, two weeks worth of patches were prescribed to me.”
The health center is focused on helping people quit. In addition to low cost options for things like patches, gum and therapy, they have free quit kits for patients to address the behavioral aspect of the addiction.
“The physical addiction is what we use the medications for but if you don't plan for all those triggers that are going to come in two months, two years, then you're going to be back smoking,” said William Lockwood, the Chief Clinical Officer of CHAS Health.
The kits come with items like straws, toothpicks and gum to help with cravings.
“For 28 years of my life I had this habit. Fifteen to twenty times a day I was putting something in and out of my mouth,” said Stuckart.
For Stuckart, the combination of the patch, toothpicks and sunflower seeds have helped him to avoid cheating these past 37 days. And now, when things get too stressful, he reaches for bike instead of a smoke.
CHAS Health offers patients free quit kits every day of the year.