There’s no better time to STOP smoking

Oxford County residents to receive free medication to help them quit smoking

NEWS

Oxford County Public Health & Emergency Services is once again teaming up with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), to help residents quit smoking. The Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients (STOP) on the Road workshop offers residents counseling support and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) free of charge. STOP on the Road also focuses on ways to improve your overall health to help residents continue on a path to pursuing a healthy lifestyle.

For many smokers the cost of nicotine replacement products is a barrier to quitting. The evidence-based STOP Program provides five weeks of free nicotine replacement therapy, a practical support for alleviation of nicotine withdrawal symptoms, which is known to help people stop smoking.

Two STOP workshops are being held in Oxford County at the end of March. Residents must pre-register for one of the two workshops being held on Wednesday, March 28 in Woodstock and Thursday, March 29 in Ingersoll.

For more details and to see if you qualify for the workshop, contact Oxford County Public Health at 519-539-0015 ext 5535.

BACKGROUND

 -  The STOP Program is conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and is funded by the Province of Ontario as part of its Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy. 

 -  Introduced in 2005, the STOP Program has already provided nicotine replacement therapy such as nicotine gum and patches, as well as bupropion and varenicline, free of charge, in addition to counseling support to an unprecedented 68,000 people from across Ontario. 

 -  Baseline questionnaires and follow-up surveys, spaced over six months post treatment will help the STOP Program researchers learn more about the long-term impact of providing nicotine replacement therapy and other smoking cessation aid free of charge to smokers Ontario-wide. To date, results for STOP participants have shown an improvement of at least two times the typical quit rates. 

 -  While smoking rates in Ontario have declined over the past twenty years, 1.6 million Ontarians continue to smoke and 16,000 die each year from the effects of commercial tobacco products. Therefore, provision of smoking cessation support to smokers in Ontario is strongly indicated.

 -  The STOP workshop was very successful in Oxford County in 2011 with over 100 residents registering for one of the two sessions held in Tillsonburg and Woodstock.

ABOUT CAMH  The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada’s leading addiction and mental health teaching hospital. Integrating clinical care, scientific research, education, policy development and health promotion, CAMH transforms the lives of people impacted by mental health and addiction issues.

ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH & EMERGENCY SERVICES  Oxford County Public Health & Emergency Services seeks to promote and protect the health of Oxford County’s more than 100,000 residents. The department’s services include family health, immunization, healthy living, infectious disease prevention, sexual health, environmental health, emergency services, and other programs that support healthy behaviours in a healthy environment. For more information, visit www.oxfordcounty.ca/health or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/oxfordcountypublichealth.