Tobacco users given another shot at success
The Rapides Foundation has produced a new advertising campaign aimed at encouraging tobacco users to ask their doctors for help quitting.
The television, radio and movie theatre ads, set to run through October, tell the story of “the lucky one” who quit using tobacco but did not do it alone. He sought the help of his doctor and used a free counseling quitline, which done together greatly increases anyone’s chances of quitting successfully.
“We know that tobacco users are most successful in their attempts to quit when they receive a combination of therapies including advice from their physicians, counseling and pharmacotherapy,” said Joe Rosier, president and CEO of The Rapides Foundation. “In our nine-parish service area, one-half of smokers made a quit attempt within the past year. This is nearly 10 percent lower than the United States. Our goal is to increase this number in all of our parishes.”
The ad campaign will run alongside the Foundation’s healthcare provider referral and reminder program which started in February. With the referral and reminder program, tobacco users no longer need to take the first step in calling the Louisiana quitline.
Healthcare provider referral and reminder programs are a proven strategy that encourages doctors to talk to their patients about quitting and then refer them to the Louisiana Tobacco Quitline, which gives them access to free counseling by trained tobacco cessation specialists. This free counseling is usually combined with medical therapy under the guidance of the doctor.
The Louisiana Tobacco Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW or 1-800-784-8669, provides free, confidential advice and support to Louisiana residents ages 13 and older. This service is available in various languages such as English and Spanish. TTY accommodations for hearing impaired and deaf individuals are available at 1-800-228-4327.
Medicare may provide coverage of smoking and tobacco-use counseling. Medicaid does not cover counseling services such as this but may cover pharmacotherapy treatments such as Chantix.
Both campaigns are part of The Rapides Foundation’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Initiative. For more about this program, please visit www.gethealthycenla.org.