It's Time to Quit!
A Message from Dr. Stephen Kindred – Assistant Vice President, Corporate Medical
Smokers across the nation unite annually to take part in the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout®. By challenging them to quit smoking on the third Thursday of November each year, the event encourages people to stop using tobacco and raises awareness of the many effective ways to quit for good.
In 2004, the US Surgeon General reported people who quit smoking, regardless of age, live longer than people who continue to smoke. The serious risks involved with smoking cigarettes are well known by both smokers and non-smokers alike.
Cigarettes increase the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as various types of cancer. Quitting smoking can substantially decrease the risk of lung, laryngeal, oral, pancreatic and cervical cancers.
The positive impacts of quitting can be seen almost immediately. According to The Center for Disease Control, your body begins to enhance and protect your health and quality of living a mere 20 minutes after your last cigarette.
State Farm, in collaboration with the American Cancer Society, now offers a tobacco cessation program for associates and retirees. The American Cancer Society Quitline® is a one-to-one counseling service clinically proven to double a smoker’s chance of quitting. Our Tobacco Cessation Benefit, along with the ACS Quitline, has already produced some great results for many State Farm associates and retirees. Click here for more information.
Jim, State Farm Facilities Technician in the Indiana Operations Center, started smoking when he was only 16 years old. He smoked 2-3 packs per day for nearly 28 years. Jim was thinking about quitting smoking when he heard about the State Farm Tobacco Cessation program.
Support and encouragement from his family led Jim to enroll in the Quitline program in an attempt to stop smoking for good. With his three children, age 21, 18 and 14, in mind, Jim chose a quit date he would always remember, Father’s Day.
One aspect of the program immediately stood out to Jim, the support it provided. The counselors reviewed the reasons he continued smoking in the past, his reasons for wanting to quit and kept him focused on his goal.
The Quitline, staffed with counselors trained to mentor and coach participants, can help with setting quit dates, handling cravings, managing setbacks, and celebrating successes along the way. With the support from his family, State Farm and the Quitline, Jim has now been smoke free for nearly 5 months.
In addition to the Quitline, Jim also utilized one of the prescription medications covered under State Farm’s Tobacco Cessation Benefit, free of charge. Research shows that a tobacco cessation program, coupled with Nicotine Replacement Therapy and/or Prescription Medication substantially increase your chances of quitting for good.
“The counseling and support kept me on track to quit smoking,” Jim said expressing his thanks to State Farm and the American Cancer Society for the Quitline program. “It was worth millions!”
We currently have over 1,000 State Farm associates, agents and retirees enrolled in the Quitline program. We are confident this benefit will continue to empower retirees to Live Well, Be Well by providing support to those looking to quit tobacco for good.
I encourage you to join the thousands of Americans who will participate on November 20. Kick your habit, or help support a loved one trying to quit, during the Great American Smokeout.
According to the American Cancer Society
The Great American Smokeout grew out of a 1974 event. Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Moticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded a state-wide initiative he called D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day.
Smith’s Don’t Smoke Day may have been inspired by an event Arthur P. Mullaney had started three years prior. Mullaney asked people to give up cigarettes for one day and donate the money they would have spent on them to a high school scholarship fund.
The idea caught on, and in November 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society helped nearly one million smokers quit for the day. The California event marked the first Smokeout. The ACS took it nationwide in 1977 and continues to support the annual effort.
Kick Your Habit
The ACS offers a variety of information for those considering quitting tobacco, including:
Click here to learn more about the Tobacco Cessation Benefit.
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