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Welcome to "Quit
for Life"- Cambridge Health Alliance's Tobacco Treatment Program.
Quitting smoking
is one of the most important things you can do for your health.
Most people who quit live longer and feel healthier, even if they
have smoked for many years.
But if you have
tried to quit smoking, you know how hard it can be. It's easy to
get discouraged, but don't give up - there are proven ways to quit
successfully; all you need is some help.
This page offers
support and tools for smokers and their friends and family to help
you quit and stay quit. If you have additional questions about smoking
and your health, please talk to your doctor or nurse.
The "Quit
for Life" program is not able to offer quit smoking counseling
services at this time. There are many other affordable, easy-to-use
programs in the Boston area that can help smokers become nonsmokers
for life. Please read on to learn more about help for smokers who
want to quit.
How treatment
programs can help you quit and stay quit
You know that
every cigarette you smoke hurts your health. Sadly, cigarettes are
not just bad for you, they are also very addictive. That is why
you may have failed when you tried to quit smoking in the past.
It is easy to feel that it is impossible to quit, especially if
you couldn't stop when you tried before.
But there
is hope. Studies show that, if you are a smoker, you have a
better chance of quitting for good when you use a mix of things
that can help you, like counseling, support and medicines.
In a smoking
treatment program, trained counselors guide you at each step of
the quitting process. They help you quit by giving you support,
medicines and therapy to help reduce your urge to smoke.
Take this quiz
to understand more about why you smoke.
Click
here.
Get tips on
how to cope with quitting smoking.
Click
here.
Cambridge
Health Alliance's "Quit for Life" Tobacco Treatment Program
CHA's "Quit
for Life" tobacco treatment program is run by the Department
of Community Affairs. The program is not able to offer quit smoking
counseling at this time, but here are many other high-quality, affordable
programs in the Boston area that can help you become a nonsmoker
for life. Please click on the links above or keep reading to find
out more about these programs.
Quitline
Quitline is
a free stop-smoking service from the Massachusetts Department of
Public Health.
Whether you
are thinking about quitting, ready to try to quit, or have already
quit and want to stay that way, Quitline can help. Quitline offers:
- Review of
smoking habits, quitting history, smoking triggers and support
systems to make a treatment plan that is right for you.
- Telephone
counseling sessions to help you quit and support you in the early
weeks.
- Interactive
website (www.trytostop.org)
to help you design your own quit plan, track how you are doing
and celebrate big steps on the way.
- Referral
to tobacco treatment programs in your area that offer support
groups or individual counseling.
- Brochures
and flyers made especially to help you quit.
- Follow-up
calls to see how you are doing and offer more support if you need
it.
All Quitline
services are free. Quitline operators speak English, Spanish and
Portuguese, and translation services are available for other languages.
Ready to
quit? Visit www.trytostop.org
or call Quitline today:
English and
all other languages: 1-800-TRY-TO-STOP (1-800-879-8678)
Spanish and
Portuguese: 1-800-8-DEJALO (1-800-833-5256) TTY: 1-800-TDD-1477
(1-800-833-1477)
(Mon. - Thurs. 9:00am- 7:00pm, Fri. 9:00am-5:00pm)
Click
here for a flyer you can print and take with you.
For stop
smoking tips in English, call the Quit Tips Line 24 hours a day
at 1-800-9-GETATIP
(1-800-943-8284).
Massachusetts
General Hospital Quit Smoking Service
The MGH Quit
Smoking Service offers low-cost, high quality tobacco treatment
services that can help you quit and stay that way.
If you are a
smoker who is ready to quit, the MGH Quit Smoking Service offers:
- Help for
you to create a quit plan that is right for you.
- Seven one-hour
group meetings with seven to nine other smokers, led by a trained
counselor.
- Low-cost
nicotine patches and gum for people in the counseling program
(with approval from your healthcare provider).
- Referral
to tobacco treatment and outreach programs in Charlestown, Everett,
Chelsea and Revere.
New groups start
each month. Sessions are in the early evening (5:30-6:30 pm) or
mid-afternoon (2:00-3:00 pm). Groups meet at the MGH Main Campus
in Boston, which you can get to easily by subway, bus or car.
All MGH Quit
Smoking Service programs are in English. Fees are on a sliding scale
based on income.
Ready to
quit? Call 617-726-7443 to sign up for the MGH Quit Smoking Service
(open Mon. through Fri. from 8am to 5 pm), or send an e-mail to
quitsmoking@partners.org.
Click
here for a flyer you can print and take with you.
For more information,
click
here or call 617-726-7443.
Fast facts
about the benefits of quitting
When you quit
smoking, your body gets healthier in just minutes, and the benefits
last a lifetime:
- 20 minutes
after quitting, your blood pressure drops. The temperature in
your hands and feet rises.
- 8 hours
after quitting, the carbon monoxide (a gas that can be toxic)
in your blood drops to normal.
- 24 hours
after quitting, your chance of having a heart attack goes down.
- 2 days after
quitting, you can taste and smell things better.
- 2 weeks to
3 months after quitting, you have better circulation. Your lungs
start working better.
- 1 to 9 months
after quitting, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness
of breath go down. Your lungs are now healthier, lowering your
risk of lung infections.
- 1 year after
quitting, your risk for heart disease is half that of a smoker's.
- 5 years
after quitting, your risk of having a stroke is the same as someone
who never smoked.
- 10 years
after quitting, your risk of dying from lung cancer is half that
of a smoker's. Your risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus,
bladder, kidney, and pancreas also decreases.
- 15 years
after quitting, your risk of heart disease is the same as someone
who never smoked.
Advice for
a smoker's friends and family
Social support
is very important in helping a smoker quit for good. If you are
trying to help someone quit, try to keep the following in mind:
- Respect that
the quitter is in charge. This is their lifestyle change and their
challenge, not yours.
- Ask the person
whether he or she wants you to call or visit regularly to see
how he or she is doing. Let the person know that it's okay to
call you whenever he or she needs to hear encouraging words.
- Help the
quitter get what she or he needs, like hard candy to suck on,
straws to chew on, fresh veggies cut up for snacking, etc.
- Spend time
doing things with the quitter to keep his or her mind off smoking
- go to the movies or take a walk to get past a craving.
- Help the
quitter with chores, child care, cooking - whatever will help
with the stress of quitting.
- Celebrate
along the way. Quitting smoking is a BIG DEAL!
- Don't take
the quitter's grumpiness personally during his or her nicotine
withdrawal. The symptoms will pass in about two weeks.
- Don't offer
advice. Just ask how you can help with the plan or program they
are using.
Other Resources
- Online and
telephone support for quitting from the National Cancer Institute,
the American Cancer Society and the CDC: www.smokefree.gov
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