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Many smokers dismiss the devastating effects of secondhand smoke. They are in denial about what their smoking habit is doing to their children and their non-smoking friends. The U.S. Surgeon General, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have the data to prove them wrong.
- World wide, secondhand smoke kills more than 600,000 people each year, 50,000 in the United States.
- Babies exposed to secondhand smoke can die of SIDS – Sudden Death Syndrome.
- Babies and children experience respiratory and ear infections as well as severe asthma attacks due to secondhand smoke.
- Non-smokers of all ages can be victims of lung cancer, heart disease and stroke because of secondhand smoke.
Don’t let your family become a secondhand smoke statistic.
Join the St. Barnabas Medical Center’s Freedom from Tobacco program. A plan designed to meet your needs will be developed ranging from total nicotine abstinence to pharmaceutical therapy, nicotine replacement or a combination of all three. Call 724-443-7231.
Here is the personal story of 50-year-old ex-smoker Rachel L. of Wexford, PA.
Smoking Is Not Cool!
I have been clean for 23 years – of cigarette smoking. I was 15 when I smoked my first cigarette. My favorite cousin smoked and I thought it was so cool. At first it was just two or three a day, but by the time I was 24, I was up to a pack a day – 20 — Camels, unfiltered.
It was then I decided to quit. I hated the smoky smell of my clothes, my hair. I tried cold turkey – that didn’t work. Then I tried Nicorette gum – no luck. It tasted awful. Finally, at age 27, I quit. It took the Nicoderm cq patch and a complete lifestyle change for me to succeed. I was diagnosed with a non-related syndrome and placed on medication that didn’t mix well with alcohol. So, no more clubbing or cocktails usually associated with smoking.
My advice to young smokers – quit now! It’s a smelly, expensive habit that is very hard to break. And it’s not cool.
We would like to hear your smoking story. Send to Faith & Work, 5850 Meridian Rd. Gibsonia, PA, 15044. Please help us break our nation’s smoking habits!