Photo By Douglas Stutz | Making an active effort over the years during the Great American Smokeout, held...... read more read more
For those who wish to make the commit to quit, Naval Hospital Bremerton’s (NHB) tobacco cessation counselor can help them cut through any blown smoke to make it happen.
Using the annual Great American Smokeout as a reference and starting point, Pat Graves offers encouragement for any and all tobacco product user to quit for a day – just try for 24 hours - or at least make a plan to quit.
As tobacco cessation counselor, Graves advocates an open door approach policy to those thinking about quitting, Walk-ins are available, as are appointments and groups.
Whether it’s someone referred from Health Promotions or primary care to a scheduled or walk-in appointment with a specialized tobacco treatment counselors, there is ready assistance available for those thinking about quitting.
“Along with our healthcare providers, dentists, pharmacists, corpsmen and everyone all talking to patients. It can all begins with just an ask,” said Graves. “No wrong door approach. The only wrong approach is ignore the risk, cost and health effects it does or will cause.”
For those who are you thinking about or ready to quit, there are multiple resources readily available.
According to Graves, there are web based resources, quit lines for phone support such as the TRICARE Quitline for beneficiaries at 1-844-426-3733, quit apps, text and chat programs, DoD’s own ucanquit2.org, quit groups, tobacco cessation programs at military treatment facilities or for the curious but not ready – information, direction and assistance.
There’s also “ready to go” but not sure walk-in or referral option for a one-to-one encounter to discuss an individualized treatment plan, clarify goals, milestones and as much – or as little - follow-up to get an stay committed to quitting the habit.
“We celebrate the ones who do quit. For them it’s a huge life victory. For those who try and don’t succeed, it can and does take time. It actually takes on average four to seven tries for a smoker to quit,” said Graves, noting that an estimated 70 percent of all smokers want to quit at some time, but are generally not sure where, when, or how.
“The irony is smokers want to quit before they have health-related problems. Unfortunately by then it might be too late,” Graves said, who brings an understanding background to his counselor role from being a smoker during his formative years growing up in Minnesota.
Graves’ attests his own story mirrors that of many he helps in his job as tobacco cessation counselor. He started using tobacco at age 15. There was no need to sneak a smoke. His best pal in high school was allowed to smoke at home by parents who both smoked. After joining the Navy, Graves quit the habit. He then found out that his friend’s parents both passed away due to emphysema. Additionally, his friend’s continued smoking led him to similarly contract the debilitating disease and by age 54 required a lung transplant.
“His quality of life has improved. He no longer has to lug around an oxygen bottle all the time. It’s because of smoking that he ended up like that,” related Graves.
Along with NHB continuing to help stop COVID-19, another ailment that is a respiratory disease like emphysema, approximately 600 to 800 beneficiaries – active duty, retirees, dependents – on an annual basis are provided support to quit using tobacco products.
“There are also approximately 200 repeat customers who have tried and failed and are determined to try again. We turn no one away,” said Graves.
The most gratifying aspect of Graves’ job is having a former smoker come back and thank him for his assistance.
“We have had retirees with significant health issues all due to smoking say that their life is so much better now that they have quit,” Graves said.
The premise of the Great American Smokeout, which happens every third Thursday in November, is to simply provide a tobacco user a convenient starting block.
“A person quits one day at a time and builds upon the success of that initial day. As the old saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. That’s when it all starts. Same with quitting smoking. Just take a day, and go from there. That’s what the Great American Smokeout is all about,” Graves said.
For those deciding to quit, Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center statistical evidence notes that on the first day of quitting, within just 20 minutes, a person’s heart rate and blood pressure drop. Within 12 hours, a person’s carbon monoxide level in their blood drops to normal. By the completion of that day, the chance of a heart attack has decreased.
Fast forward from that initial one day to the one year mark. A lot can and will happen – health wise - during that time. In the first month of quitting, a person’s skin appearance improves. Within three months, their circulation and lung function gets better. At the nine month mark, there’s less coughing. Even breathing becomes easier.
After an entire year of not smoking, the risk of coronary heart disease is cut in half. After five years, the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder are cut in half, and the chance of getting cervical cancer and a stroke return to normal.
Ten years after quitting, a former smoker is half as likely to die from lung cancer and their risk of larynx or pancreatic cancer decreases. After 15 years, a former smoker’s risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of a non-smoker.
Additional improvements by quitting smoking include, lower levels of cholesterol and fats circulating in the blood; thinner blood which makes a person less likely to develop blood clots; reduced belly fat and a lower risk of diabetes; wound healing improves; hand and feet temperature return to normal; fatigue and shortness of breath decrease; risk of bone fracture reduces; and smell and taste ability improve.
Those health benefits aren’t just a bunch of blown smoke, especially on the Great American Smokeout.
| Date Taken: | 11.18.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2021 23:06 |
| Story ID: | 409731 |
| Location: | BREMERTON, WA, US |
| Web Views: | 147 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Commit to Quit with Help at Naval Hospital Bremerton, by Douglas Stutz, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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