State Initiative Targets High Smoking Rates
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| Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach, left, speaks with Richard Palmisano of NARH. |
At a Friday morning press conference in the lobby of North Adams Regional Hospital, members of the Berkshire legislative delegation joined Mayor John Barrett III and officials from the state Department of Public Health to announce the launch of the "Fight 4 Your Life" initiative, a nicotine patch giveaway that will work in cooperation with local smoking cessation programs.
"What does it take to give up the addiction? There are two things together that are likely to be the most successful. One is using a nicotine patch or some other form of nicotine replacement together with individualized counseling or support from other people. If you have those two things in your life than you have a much greater chance of beating tobacco," said John Auerbach, the commissioner of public health.
An estimated 3,454 smokers live in the city. The smoking rate is 30.3 percent, 68 percent higher than the statewide rate of 18.1 percent. Additionally, the rate of smoking during pregnancy is the city is 33.3 percent.
.JPG) Katrina Bergman, spokeswoman for the initiative, was inspired to stop smoking by her children Jack, 12, and Emily Banagis, 15 (in orange). Emily's best friend Stacey O'Leary, 13, is at left. |
Barrett, a reformed smoker, said he was eager to see changes in the smoking habits of city residents.
"I commend the state and our local hospitals for really stepping up and doing something about this because nothing angers me more than seeing some of our young people walking out of school lighting up a cigarette on their way home. Some of them haven't even reached the age of 15 years old. We've got to start doing more," the mayor said.
Past pilot programs in other municipalities — including Lowell, New Bedford, Fall River and Worcester — have proven successful, said Auerbach, with a "high percentage" reporting they are smoke free six months after beginning the program.
"We think this could work," Auerbach said. "We are not going to let the economics of purchasing the nicotine patch be an obstacle to somebody moving ahead with their efforts to give up tobacco."
Local legislators were also on hand to celebrate the initiative's launch.
"Out here, we have gone through some really tough times. We're still fighting some vestiges of losing the manufacturing economy here and people are still struggling for jobs. What's happened is we've seen battles in teen pregnancy, battles in teen smoking, battles with cancer," said Rep. Daniel Bosley, D-North Adams. "We need to change the habits and it's very important for us to take this step."
Jennifer Ciello, the tobacco treatment program coordinator for the Reach Community Health Foundation, said providing the first two weeks of nicotine-patch treatment (typically a 10- to 12-week program) will help put smokers on the right path to beating addiction.
"The idea is to get more and more people to local programs," said Civello. "Quitlines across the state have seen huge jumps using this program."
