It’s time again to compile a list of resolutions designed to make a new you in the new year. The “Big Three” might well be to eat less, to exercise more and to quit smoking. If you’re a smoker, the
It’s time again to compile a list of resolutions designed to make a new you in the new year. The “Big Three” might well be to eat less, to exercise more and to quit smoking.
If you’re a smoker, the American Lung Association of Hawaii can help with quitting smoking. Quitting this year could be a little easier with new incentives to give up the habit. There are cessation programs offered when smokers are ready: Freedom From Smoking, Not on Tobacco — the teen cessation program — and Freedom from Smoking online www.ffsonline.org
Hawai‘i’s law that prohibits smoking in indoor public places and all public facilities such as airports, from curb to plane is now one year old. ALA of Hawaii Executive Director Jean Evans says with fewer places to light up, smokers can decide now’s the time to make the effort to quit, once and for all.
ALA of Hawaii will once again distribute free “survival (Quit) kits” early in the New Year to help smokers move from survive to thrive as non-smokers. One hundred kits are available on a first-come basis from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. tomorrow at the Kukui Grove Shopping Center near Starbucks and Jamba Juice.
Each kit contains: “Quit Smoking Action Plan,” “How You Can Stop Smoking For Good!” “Stop Smoking Control Your Weight,” stress balls, buttons, stickers and information about the ALA of Hawaii’s Quit Smoking Services and partner agencies. They also contain goodies from local businesses such as pens, candies and cookies. All participants will also be eligible for prize drawings gift cards just for picking up a kit.
Debbie Odo, ALA of Hawaii’s Director of Tobacco Control, says the new year is a hopeful time for smokers who truly want to quit. “We’d like to help them achieve ‘Freedom From Smoking’ by providing resources and encouragement to set a quit date in the next 30 days,” Odo said. “The more attempts a smoker makes, the closer he or she is to becoming a non-smoker in 2008.”
“Quitting is a process; it takes time,” Odo said. “You don’t fail; you just learn from each quit attempt.”
For more information or questions, contact Rebecca Smith at the ALA of Hawaii Kauai office at 245-4142.
