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Pecan Valley Centers supports and offers a variety of options for staff and/or consumers wishing to quit tobacco use. The information and professional assistance available can help to support both your immediate and long-term needs to become and remain, a tobacco-free. Resources include:

• An online step-by-step cessation guide,

• The tobacco Quitline: 1-877-YES-QUIT,

• Free Nicotine Replacement Aids (limited time only),

• Publications that can be downloaded or printed,

• Medical assistance if needed

 

Why Quit

 

The immediate health benefits of quitting smoking are substantial. Heart rates and blood pressure levels can be abnormally for smokers, but will return to normal after quitting. Within a few hours carbon monoxide (odorless gas in cigarettes that reduces the ability to carry oxygen) levels in the blood begin to decline. Within a few weeks, people who quit smoking have improved circulation and respiratory functions. Within several months of quitting, people will experience significant improvements in lung function.

Other reasons to quit:

• Reduces the risk of cancer and other diseases, such as heart disease and lung disease

• People who quit at by the time they reach the age of 30 reduce the chance of dying from smoking-related diseases by more than 90 percent. Those who quit at by the time they reach the age of 50 reduce their risk of dying prematurely by 50 percent. Even people who quit at about age 60 or older live longer than those who continue to smoke.

 

Help Someone You Know Quit

 

It’s understandable to be concerned about someone you know who currently smokes. Find out whether they want to quit; if they say they don't, try to find out why.

Here are some things you can do to help:

• Express things in terms of your own concern about the smoker’s health

• Acknowledge that the individual may get something out of smoking and may find it difficult to quit

• Be a source of encouragement and express your faith that the smoker can quit for good

• Suggest a specific action, such as calling a smoking Quitline, 1-877-YES-QUIT

• Ask the smoker for ways you can provide support

Here are two things you should not do:

• Don’t send quit smoking materials to smokers unless they ask for them

• Don’t criticize, nag, or remind the smoker about past failures

 

 

Useful Tips and Resources To Share

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- Texas QuitLine

- American Cancer Society

- Message boards for people trying to quit

- American Heart Association

- Smartphone Text Message Program

- Be Tobacco Free