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For Immediate Release
Sharing Tales from the Trenches Helps Smokers Stay Quit
January 18, 2010 - January 17 to 23, 2010 is National Non-Smoking Week across Canada, and in British Columbia hundreds of quitters are helping each other kick butt by sharing their stories, challenges and quit tips through the online communities in place at www.quitnow.ca, a provincial smoking cessation service managed by the BC Lung Association and made available through grant funding from the Ministry of Healthy Living and Sport.
The new website features real-life videos of BC quitters and invites others to share their quit tips and stories by becoming a QuitNow Facebook fan, signing up as a member of the QuitNow Online community, or submitting their quit stories for posting directly to the website. The website also provides access to a confidential cessation helpline service and a range of downloadable quit tools.
Recent ex-smoker Joan Green of Duncan says logging onto QuitNow helped her fight late night nicotine cravings, “My husband Bob goes to bed really early and I thought that would be my difficult time but I would log onto the website and spend several hours just reading and talking to other quitters and before long I was helping people too.” Since Joan and her husband Bob quit they’ve noticed improvements in their health as well as their wallets, “And it’s so awesome when the grandkids come now; they just run over with a hug and a kiss because we’re not just stinky Nana and Grandpa anymore!”
Ex-smoker Tricia Sirrs of Vancouver says, “To understand what it’s like to have a conversation without a cigarette in your hand…or a cup of coffee…or a glass of wine is difficult if you haven’t been a smoker yourself. I tried to quit for years and wish QuitNow.ca had been available sooner.” Tricia says next to raising her two daughters, quitting smoking was the greatest achievement of her life.
Visit www.quitnow.ca to watch and read read more quit stories.
“While BC has the lowest provincial smoking rate at 15 percent, we are home to the 3rd largest population of smokers in Canada after Ontario and Quebec with more than 550,000 British Columbians still smoking,” says Jack Boomer, QuitNow Services Director for the BC Lung Association.
“The good news is most smokers want to quit – seven out of 10 want to quit[1] according to a recent Lung Association report. We want to do all within our power to help and we’re finding one of the best ways to we can help is by connecting smokers ready to quit or already undergoing the quit process with one another,” continued Boomer.
Contact:
Katrina van Bylandt
Communications Manager
BC Lung Association
1.800.665.5864
vanbylandt@bc.lung.ca
[1] Making Quit Happen: Canada’s Challenges to Smoking Cessation. Published in 2008 by the Lung Assocation, this report includes an Appendix that discusses Tobacco cessation challenges in each province (PDF).