Great American Smokeout helps students kick habit

A Great American Smokeout event was held on Nov. 20, in front of Health Services to encourage cigarette smokers to break their habit and take advantage of the free tobacco cessation program offered by De Anza College.

 
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and De Anza College wants to be proactive about helping students through the process of quitting, said Veronica Song, registered nurse and a tobacco cessation counselor.

 
Health Services members said their goal was to help smokers quit and to encourage non-smokers to help tobacco addicts around them.

 
Event organizer Brittany Friedrich, also a tobacco cessation counselor, handed out pamphlets about tobacco and electronic cigarettes at the informational booth. She also handed out anti-smoking kits containing lollipops, gum and resource tips to students.

 
She said that Health Services does their best to encourage anyone who wants stop smoking, but it is the responsibility of the individual to follow through with quitting.
Health Services counselors assist smokers who seek to quit by helping them find alternative stress relievers. Picking up other smoking habits in replace of cigarettes does not count as quitting and can even be worse for your health, Friedrich said.

 
Jesus Rivera, 20, computer science major, started smoking at the age of 11, and has since recently quit. Rivera said that he thinks events and services like this aid smokers looking to quit.

 
“It would’ve helped me in high school,” he said. “I had to quit track because of smoking.”

Physical, mental, and emotional effects can arise from quitting, such as headaches and high blood pressure to mood swings and difficulty concentrating, Song said. She emphasized getting proper support to commit to your decision to quit.

 
“If people quit cold turkey, it’s about a 2-3 percent success rate,” Song said. “If you use nicotine therapy it’s 23 percent, but when you combine that with counseling it’s about a 45 percent success rate.”

 
Health Services uses these statistics to teach evidence-based methods to help students quit. It offers nicotine therapy and one-on-one counseling at no cost to students enrolled at De Anza.

 
“It’s free,” Song said.