Commit to Quit - Your Personalized Quit Smoking Plan

Your Medina County Wellness Program, in conjunction with the Medina County Drug Abuse Commission (MCDAC), is offering County employees and their family members a unique opportunity to kick their smoking habit. The employee must be enrolled in order for family members to participate.

Commit to Quit is under the direction of Mr. Brian Nowak, MCDAC Director and Mayo Clinic Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist.                                                     

Participants receive 6, 30-mintue individualized sessions on effective steps to quit smoking and a personalized Commit to Quit Plan.   Scheduling is flexible allowing sessions to be set at the convenience of the participant whether before or after work, or during lunch.

Participants also receive, at no cost, a 30-day supply of over-the-counter Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products, such as patches, gum or lozenges

For prescription  products, such as Zyban or Chantix, there would be no co-pay for employees coming under the County's prescription health plan.

For employees with no prescription plan coverage, the full cost of their prescription medication would be paid for by funds provided by Medical Mutual.

To receive NRT products, program participants must initially receive medical clearance through their personal physician and present appropriate documentation to Brian Nowak in the form of a prescription, i.e. Zyban or Chantix; or a signed letter authorizing use of a NRT product.

If you've ever considered quitting, are willing and ready to quit, then what have you got to lose? If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade!!

For more information, or to enroll, contact Brian at 330.722.9263, or email him at bnowak@medinaco.org

YOU RISK ONLY YOUR HEALTH

Did You Know...

* Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit.

* More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking greatly increases your risk for lung cancer and many other cancers.

* Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke.

* Among infants to 18 months of age, secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year.

* Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.

* If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke than a young person whose parents are both nonsmokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also more likely to start smoking.

* Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the babies' good health. If all women quit smoking during pregnancy, about 4,000 new babies would not die each year.

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Source:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

National Cancer Institute