PH Brookville Offers Smoking Cessation Support
Sixty-eight percent of all tobacco smokers want to quit smoking, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And for those who need help, Penn Highlands Brookville has an answer.
A Smoking Cessation Support Group will now be held on the last Tuesday of every month and will be held from 6-7 p.m. in the Educational Conference Center-in the Patient Accounting building at PH Brookville. The first group meeting will be Tuesday, April 25.
The meeting will be led by Andrea Stewart of PH Brookville who is trained in smoking cessation techniques.
The meetings are for those who smoke and want to quit and for those who quit and want to stay smoke-free. Family members and friends are welcome as well as anyone interested.
Stewart will share information and answer questions. Men and women who attend can support one another. Hearing from those who are facing similar problems can often help others overcome their own hurdles.
Meetings are free to attend. Registration is not needed, but for the first meeting, please call so enough materials are available, 814-849-1412.
Why quit? Stopping smoking is associated with the following health benefits, according to the CDC:
- Lowered risk for lung cancer and many other types of cancer.
- Reduced risk for heart disease, stroke and peripheral vascular disease (narrowing of the blood vessels outside your heart).
- Reduced heart disease risk within 1-2 years of quitting.
- Reduced respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. While these symptoms may not disappear, they do not continue to progress at the same rate among people who quit compared with those who continue to smoke.
- Reduced risk of developing some lung diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
- Reduced risk for infertility in women of childbearing age. Women who stop smoking during pregnancy also reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby.
“There are so many benefits,” Stewart said. “We hope many people take the opportunity to be smoke-free.”