In preparation for the July 1, campus-wide smoking ban, Creighton employees are taking charge of their health by participating in the smoking-cessation courses offered as part of the Cardiac Center’s “Tobacco Free You” campaign.
About 90 employees are enrolled in Commit to Quit, a seven-week, eight-session group therapy program, said Tim Grollmes, Health Education manager at the Cardiac Center. As an extra incentive to quit, participation in the program, which normally costs $75, is free for faculty as long as they complete all eight sessions.
Rick Helms, a social worker with the Cardiac Center, said the program works for anyone. “It works for both people who use smokeless tobacco, people who use cigarettes, people who smoke three packs a day, people who smoke five cigarettes a day.
“It’s not specifically tailored to one type of person or one type of tobacco user,” Helms said. “That’s something we think is a real strength of the program.”
Commit to Quit has been offered by the Cardiac Center for seven years, Grollmes said. It has 58 percent success rate for participants who continue to be smoke-free two years out of the program, according to the Cardiac Center’s most recent survey.
Since the tobacco-free initiative was announced in November, Commit to Quit now offers discounted smoking cessation supplies and medications that are available to Creighton employees and their spouses covered under the Creighton Health Plan.
Grollmes said he expects more people to take advantage of the program for the first few months after the smoking ban goes into effect.
“I think we’ll have more people calling us, realizing that they can’t smoke on campus and thinking they can make it through the day when it’s very tough to go eight hours without meeting their addiction,” Grollmes said. “They’ll realize they need some help.”
Quit with Billy
The current Commit to Quit program is not for students, but the Cardiac Center is starting a three-session student program and an interactive Web site in mid-September, Grollmes said.
“We’re doing three [sessions] versus eight because we know students are busy, so we’re compressing it because there are a lot of issues that we’re not going to worry about with the students,” Grollmes said. “The big thing is the Web site.”
The Web site, called “Quit with Billy,” will have video diaries of an actual college student going through the quitting process on campus.
“We will upload those videos along with counselor notes so that a person can log on to this website and do self-paced quitting and use the video diary to help them work through their own quitting process and then have us as a back-up,” Grollmes said. “It’s pretty cool.”
Grollmes said he hopes students will take advantage of both the program and the Web site. He said students who are smokers or tobacco-users will test the site and see if it’s something they would use.
“We’ve done focus groups with students across campus to kind of figure out what works for them, what they’re interested in,” he said. “We got positive feedback.”
“Cold Turkey” Quitting
To kick off the new tobacco-free policy, Sodexho will give away 150 free “cold turkey” sandwiches on July 1 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wareham Court in the Skutt Student Center. The Cardiac Center is also providing 300 free “Tobacco Free You” water bottles and stickers.
Smoking ban is part of an Omaha trend
The smoking ban, which prohibits the use, sale and advertisement of tobacco products on Creighton property, is an effort to secure “a healthy, comfortable and productive living and working environment” for faculty, staff, students and visitors, said the Rev. John Schlegel, S.J., in his president’s update. The ban was announced in November 2007 and goes into effect on July 1. No smoking signs will be posted around campus.
The timing of Creighton’s tobacco-free policy corresponds with the City of Omaha’s June 2006 partial smoking ban and the new law passed on June 17 that bans smoking in all indoor public places and places of employment.