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Keep New Year’s resolution to quit smoking with help from ACCESS

Commit to quit in 2015 with assistance from free coaching, resources

Dearborn, Mich. – ACCESS encourages smokers to make this the year they commit to quit. The start of a new year is an opportune time for giving up unhealthy habits, like using cigarettes, hookah and other tobacco products.

Quitting tobacco is challenging because nicotine is a highly addictive drug. However, there are resources and tools available to help tobacco users kick the habit. Planning ahead, seeking support from friends and family and talking to a health care provider can all increase the likelihood of quitting successfully. 

"Using the available resources can help people make 2015 tobacco-free, yielding a lifetime of health benefits,” said Ahlam Bokari, ACCESS Health Educator. 

According to the American Cancer Society, the benefits of quitting smoking are immediate. Within 20 minutes of quitting, blood pressure drops; and within 24 hours, a person’s chance of getting a heart attack decreases. The benefits continue for years, including reduced risk of lung cancer, stroke and heart disease. 

Counseling smokers to quit is ranked as one of the most cost effective and clinically preventable burdens of disease and injury, second only to vaccinating children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition to talking to a health care provider, there are numerous proven and effective methods available to help Michigan residents quit tobacco use, including:

  • The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) Tobacco Quitline, 800-784-8669 provides free telephone coaching for the uninsured and those with Medicaid and Medicare, and free nicotine replacement medications for those who qualify. The Quitline includes extra help for pregnant women. Information on quitting smoking is available through MDCH at www.michigan.gov/tobacco.
  • Free, interactive website www.BecomeAnEX.org educates smokers on how to re-learn life without cigarettes. The site, developed by the American Legacy Foundation in partnership with Mayo Clinic, offers a free, personalized quit plan and an online support community.
  • The American Cancer Society also offers tools to help with quitting.  For more information contact the American Cancer Society at 800-227-2345.
  • The website www.smokefree.gov provides free, accurate, evidence-based information and professional assistance to help support the immediate and long-term needs of people trying to quit smoking.
  • Quit Tobacco: Make Everyone Proud, available at www.ucanquit2.org, is a Department of Defense-sponsored Web site for military personnel and their families.
  • CDC's Smoking and Tobacco Use website http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/ also includes tips on how to quit smoking.

For more information, please contact ACCESS Public Health Coordinator Corey Beckwith at 313-216-2208 or cbeckwith@accesscommunity.org, or call the Michigan Tobacco Quitline at 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669).

About ACCESS

Grounded in a grassroots commitment to serving our community, ACCESS has a 43-year history of providing health, education, employment and social services.  An Arab American nonprofit of excellence, ACCESS empowers residents of metro Detroit to lead healthy, informed and productive lives and extends this mission nationally through advocacy, arts, culture and philanthropy.