Monday, September 24, 2007
University health helping students kick habit
Tobacco use is a leading cause of death in Oklahoma. University Health Services is offering ways to help students quit.
For students who walk to class in a cloud of smoke or are unable to walk without losing their breath, University Health Services can help them quit smoking.
UHS is offering several ways to help students quit using tobacco products.
UHS has classes and medication available to help students quit.
Students without insurance can get these services covered through the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Grant, which UHS received for this program. Students with insurance should talk to their providers about their coverage.
On-campus, off-campus and online programs are available for students to use.
“UHS has a highly competent medical staff to help students quit smoking,” said Yvon Fils-Aime, UHS tobacco health educator.
“Smokers need to be as healthy as nonsmokers, and we’re here to help.”
The nurses, physicians and physician assistants at UHS say they are concerned about the health of students using tobacco and want to help in any way they can.
About one in four, or about 650,000, Oklahoma adults are smokers. Oklahoma’s smoking-related deaths are among the highest in the country, the Oklahoma Department of Health reported.
“Tobacco products are highly addictive, and the vast majority of new tobacco users in Oklahoma are children,” according to the Oklahoma Department of Health.
Tobacco is also harmful to those around the smoke. Secondhand smoke is also highly problematic for nonsmokers. For “social smokers,” there is no safe level of tobacco use.
Cigarette smoking kills an estimated 178,000 women per year in the United States. The three leading smoking-related causes of death in women are lung cancer, heart disease and chronic lung disease, according to the Center for Disease Control.
“Cigarette smoking increases the risk for infertility, preterm delivery, stillbirth, low birth weight and sudden infant death syndrome,” according to the CDC.
If a person smokes 20 cigarettes a day, quitting saves him or her about $1,500 per year.
“Tobacco use causes the premature death of about 5,800 Oklahomans each year, or an average of 16 each day — more than from any other cause,” according to the Oklahoma Department of Health.
For more information on quitting, please visit UHS or use the online resource at http://www.lungusa.org.
Paul:
Comment on 24-Sep-07 at 6:44 pm
Anything that helps young people quit smoking is very useful. The longer they continue smoking, the harder it is to quit.
CBK:
Comment on 24-Sep-07 at 9:56 pm
Considering the story’s slant, is the loss of a female life more devastating than that of a male life? Just because men produce semen, do we not bleed? Yes, I can look up stats on the Internet as well, but seriously - is this what is now passing as journalism at the O’Colly? I appreciate the new attitude on display, but plenty of people can quote stats from Web sites they’ve stumbled on - they’re called bloggers.
Can the O’Colly produce one - yes, just one - person who has had to walk to class in a “cloud of smoke?” Not the beleagured non-smoker who has had to exit a building and encounter a plume of smoke at some point on the laborious journey from a dorm to the food court to Willie’s while being pregnant and acquiring lung cancer just like their Papa did back in ought-one, but a student who has literally been ensconced by cigarette smoke at any point during any day?
Better yet, while the Ed Board was divided about the smoking ban, can it at least produce a story that has a half-hearted attempt at balance regarding cigarette smoking? While the UHS-pimping is surely appreciated by, well, UHS, it’s grating to those of us who, well, have something other than future positions at UHS joshing about between our ears.
“‘Tobacco products are highly addictive, and the vast majority of new tobacco users in Oklahoma are children,’ according to the Oklahoma Department of Health.” Do tell - who are these children getting addicted to cigarettes? What children can afford cigarettes that cost almost four bucks a pack?
Yeah, I’m a smoker and we’re dogs, we get it. But seriously - is this the best the O’Colly can do?
Joe:
Comment on 25-Sep-07 at 3:48 pm
Your statement, “Tobacco is also harmful to those around the smoke. Secondhand smoke is also highly problematic for nonsmokers. For “social smokers,” there is no safe level of tobacco use”, is standard government issue from the usual anti-smoking groups. Why is it that every other chemical, including carcinogens, have a permissible exposure limit before it is considered harmful. The Occupational Safety and Health Agency has not set a limit for environmental tobacco smoke, why do you think that is? It’s because if they did, these statements would become invalid. I recommend that before you print statements like this as the truth and nothing but the truth, you take a trip to the Cato Institute’s web page and then decide if the governments statements are actually accurate.