A Smoke-Free St. Mary

A newly-forged partnership between Teche Action Clinic, Cardiovascular Institute of the South, The Louisiana Campaign for Tobacco-Free Living and Louisiana Smoking Cessation Trust was announced Wednesday at the annual Rise and Shine Breakfast held by St. Mary Chamber of Commerce and TAC, at the Lamp Post in Franklin.
The event was co-sponsored by Fit, Fun & Fabulous Serving St. Mary Parish and UnitedHealthcare.
In his address, David Konur, chief executive officer of CIS said, “We are very excited about partnering with the Teche Action Clinic in an effort to make St. Mary Parish smoke-free.
“That’s a noble cause and it’s a tough thing to go after; but, it’s absolutely essential that we get after this.”
Konur went on to discuss CIS’ approach to smoking cessation as consisting of one which maximizes probability of effectiveness through perception and resource availability.
He explained, “We offer a comprehensive approach to combining physician evaluations with medications and support counseling services.”
Citing the quit-rate of the average potential non-smoker, “on their own,” as less than five percent, Konur upped the quit-rate to 10 percent if the patient is “looking at a white coat,” (medical-personnel), and then to 19.25 percent, if counseling services are added to the white coat index.
“So, we’re really excited to partner with the Teche Action Clinic,” Konur said, “where Dr. Wiltz and his team are going to take care of the medical evaluation and that initial white coat view of it, and then we are going to come in and support them with the counseling component of it, to see if we can’t drive that quit-rate well above 20 percent.”
TAC has been working toward the goal of a smoke-free St. Mary Parish for years now, to include recent efforts alongside TFL, within the last year, toward more stringent smoke-free ordinances in the parish’s five municipalities, limiting tobacco use in or near government-owned facilities.
Dr. Gary Wiltz, chief executive officer of TAC said the Smoking Cessation Program would not be offered just to Teche Action Clinic exclusively, but also to the community at large.
Wiltz, at the end of the breakfast, accepted an award for hero recognition from United Healthcare for his work in helping the parish community to quit smoking and quit using smokeless tobacco.
Before adjourning to TAC’s Weber Street location in Franklin, for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony to kick off the Smoking Cessation Program, proclamations were signed by municipal, parish and state dignitaries, proclaiming National Health Center Week in St. Mary Parish.
Through the Smoking Cessation Program, the Teche Action Clinic will arrange for smokers to receive, at no cost, any of the following cessation services: cessation medications, individual/group intensive cessation counseling, and telephone and web-based support via 1-800-QUIT-NOW or www.quitwithusla.org.