HSE target primary schools in anti-smoking initiative

THOUSANDS of primary school children throughout the county have been informed about the health benefits of not smoking in a recent initiative by the Clare Health Promotion Tobacco Service.
Anti-tobacco information was provided to primary schools as part of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) smoking prevention initiative.
The Clare Health Promotion Tobacco Service, in partnership with the HSE Environmental Health Services, Clare County Council and Clare Sports Partnership, are also driving the European Healthy Stadia initiative.
Participating health and recreational facilities offer strategic settings for warning the public about the dangers of tobacco. The same partnership enabled Clare to become an early national leader in creating smoke-free playgrounds, which aim to protect children from exposure to second-hand smoke.
Under the Tobacco Control Framework, smoking cessation specialist, Mary McMahon reports the QUIT campaign is one of a number of important and innovative smoking cessation and prevention initiatives underway.
Working with the National Cancer Control Prevention Office, the service has trained the North Clare Primary Care Team in smoking cessation and has established a smoking cessation outreach clinic in Ennistymon.
Offering help to quit is a core theme in all these initiatives and a free public information event held last March was well attended.
Ms McMahon reports the national QUIT campaign has increased the demand for local smoking cessation support and has improved clinic attendance. Smokers undertaking quit attempts have referenced the campaign and view it as a supportive background for their current quitting attempt, while affirming their reasons for quitting.
She believes the QUIT campaign’s message that one  in every two smokers will die from tobacco-related disease will prompt smokers to consider their personal health risks from continued smoking.
In 2011, she has observed an emerging trend whereby smokers attending the clinic have started to prioritise financial, over health reasons for quitting.
“While each quitting attempt is personally motivated, the longer term health effects of smoking can be devastating. Nicotine-dependent smokers must have access to standardised smoking cessation services as promoted by the campaign. In Clare, the tobacco service aims to make quitting easier by ensuring that service users are informed of evidence-based methods for quitting,” she says.
These methods are recommended by the UK’s National Institute of Clinical Excellence and the NHS Smoking Cessation Treatment guidelines.
The Clare service aims for 40% of attendees to commence a cessation attempt and for 15% to sustain that attempt for a year. In reality, longer term quitting requires a number of practice runs before nicotine addiction and smoking beliefs and behaviours become unlearned and replaced by a smoke-free life.
In terms of specialist support, Ms McMahon hopes to continue developing group programmes and workplace smoking cessation programmes alongside the one-to-one clinical model.
Anybody interested in the QUIT campaign and smoking cessation support may contact the service at Clare Health Promotion Tobacco Service, Slainte Offices, Francis Street, Ennis, call 065 6865841, visit www.QUIT.ie or ring the National Smokers Quitline at 1850 201203.