FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 16, 2006
DHEC unveils new features to help smokers Quit for Keeps
COLUMBIA – South Carolinians now have access to an improved range of comprehensive tobacco treatment services through the S.C. Tobacco Quitline, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control announced today.
“The S.C. Tobacco Quitline has offered cessation counseling since 2004,” said Dr. Lisa Waddell, DHEC Deputy Commissioner for Health Services. “These enhancements take the quitline to an improved level of service with a new, easy-to-remember phone number; increased hours of live coverage; individualized educational materials; Internet counseling and participant forums along with a fax referral system for health care providers.”
Waddell said the program also includes a personalized quit plan and multiple proactive phone-based treatment sessions with a highly trained tobacco treatment specialist called a Quit Coach.
“Research has shown the most effective strategy for helping smokers quit for the long-term is to pair medication with behavioral counseling,” Waddell said. “Other options are available, but our quitline is all encompassing. Not only is it free, convenient and easy-to-access, it also employs a clinically proven approach that treats all three aspects of tobacco use: physical addiction, psychological dependence and behavioral pattern.”
The quitline service is available free by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). Live operators staff the new quitline seven days a week from 8 a.m. until midnight. Quitline services are provided in English and Spanish with translation available in other languages.
“Improvements to the quitline service have been made through a DHEC partnership with Free and Clear, Inc., which will make its new Internet-based service called Web Coach available to South Carolina callers,” said Katy Wynne, coordinator of the S.C. Tobacco Quitline. “This feature enhances the phone-based counseling with interactive elements such as personalized motivational e-mails and online social forums where participants can communicate with each other as well as with Quit Coaches. Participants receive a Quit Kit of materials that will help them stay on track with their personalized plan between calls. This information is tailored to the specific ‘readiness to quit’ stage for each caller. Participants can also call if they need extra support between scheduled calls.
“Right now, 22.5 percent of South Carolina adults are at risk because of their smoking status, which is higher than the national average of 20.9 percent,” Wynne said. “While the rate of smoking adults has dropped during the past couple years, the cost to our state due to smoking has escalated to more than $1 billion per year in direct health care expenses and another $1.74 billion in lost productivity. We clearly need to help those who are smoking make more attempts to quit if we expect to change the course of tobacco-caused health care costs.”
The new quitline is intended to alleviate these economic and health burdens by helping South Carolinians kick the habit and stay tobacco-free. The program will prioritize services for those most in need of cessation help. The S.C. Tobacco Quitline offers the most comprehensive service to the uninsured, Medicaid patients and anyone referred via a fax referral program by their physician.
For learn more about the S.C. Tobacco Quitline visit www.scdhec.gov/quitforkeeps.
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For more information:
Mary-Kathryn Craft – (803) 545-4466
E-mail – craftmk@dhec.sc.gov
or
Adam Myrick – (803) 898-3884
E-mail – myrickar@dhec.sc.gov
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