NARH Unveils Ex-Smokers Hall of Fame to Inspire Quitting
 Corinne Case of Adams was an aerobics instructor when she started smoking at 19. 'I wanted to be a little rebellious.' |
But the goal was the same for the inaugural members of the Northern Berkshire Ex-Smokers Hall of Fame: Swearing off tobacco.
"You don't know how good it is when you quit. How food tastes so nice again, how you can take a deep breath of fresh air," said Corrine Case of Adams, one of the dozen quitters recognized with certificates on Friday morning at North Adams Regional Hospital.
Northern Berkshire Healthcare is the first in the state to host a Hall of Fame as an inspiration to help other smokers quit. The project was done in conjunction with the Berkshire Area Health Education Center and features a dozen stories of individuals who came forward to be interviewed about how and why they quuit their tobacco addiction.
"I've seen the effects of smoking in so many parts of our hospital and our health-care system," said Billie Allard, a registered nurse and vice president of patient care services, to the three dozen ex-smokers, staff and supporters gathered in the lobby.
A study a few years ago found that a third of the hospital's patients were being treated for smoking-related diseases — heart and pulmonary diseases and cancer — and that many of the young mothers and mothers-to-be were smokers.
That's not surprising. According to the most recent statistics, the city has a higher smoking rate than the state of average. More than a quarter of the adult population, about 3,000, are smokers. That 61 percent higher than state average of 16 percent.
The rate of women smoking during pregnancy is alarming — 339 percent higher than the rest of the state. Some 32.5 percent of moms-to-be smoke compared to 7.4 percent statewide.
Adams isn't much better; it's adult rate of smokers is 21.5 percent and the rate of smoking during pregnancy is 315 percent higher than the state at 30.7 percent.
 Certificates were presented to the Hall-of-Famers present: Susan Poulin, Sheri Simon, Case, Lois Daunais, Bill Mulholland and, not pictured, Rod Bunt and Dick McCarthy. Joan Rubel is at far left. |
In her case, morning sickness helped get over the cravings, she said, noting smoking doesn't help nausea. Since then, Daunais has kept a smoke-free home for 22 years with an outside smoking area for quests if they must indulge. "I just don't want smoke in my house."
The ex-smokers featured ranged from 60-year-old Kathi McCarthy who quit last year after 40 years of puffing to Lloyd Bannister, 34, who picked up smoking in the military and quit 6 years ago.
"It's never too late to quit smoking," said Allard, who told how her mother started smoking at 14 and didn't quit until she was 77. It was hard; her mother even continued smoking in her dreams. "She said quitting smoking was like losing her best friend."
But her mother's health had a dramatic improvement despite her six decades smoking - she stopped wheezing and coughing, and no longer required an inhaler when she caught colds. "We need to get that message out, that it's never, ever too late," said Allard.
The interviews were done by Joan Rubel, project coordinator for the Tobacco-Free Community Partnership of Berkshire AHEC, after the idea arose last fall. The hope, she said, was that more people will come forward to share their stories, too.
"It's really a hard process. It's a matter of trying to align your physical issues with your emotional issues and your social issues, and having it all come together so that you can really change your life and become a non-smoker," she said. "I think if you look at these stories you'll see there's some gem in each of them, a strategy or lifestyle change or method that helped them quit."The placards will remain in the hospital lobby over the next month so that others might find that one of those gems could help them quit, too. The Hall of Fame will then move to the Doctors' Building and to other venues.
"What we're doing here today is really trying to send a message to those who want to quit," said Timothy J. Diehl, executive director of AHEC, who added 70 percent of smokers want to quit. "Whoever said quitters don't win?"
Information on local smoking-cessation programs can be found by contacting Northern Berkshire Healthcare's Reach Community Health at 413-664-5326, and Berkshire Health Systems tobacco-treatment services at 413-499-2602 in Pittsfield or 413-528-2663 in Great Barrington. More information can also be found at makesmokinghistory.com.
