Employee Health Clinic offers help to snuff out tobacco habits

Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

The Great American Smokeout, an annual event that urges the millions of Americans who use tobacco products to take the first step toward quitting, is scheduled for Nov. 16.

While that date is just around the corner, University of Iowa employees who want to quit need not wait until then. The University Employee Health Clinic (UEHC) tobacco cessation program is readily available to UI employees who are looking to kick their nicotine habits.

“When an employee contacts us, we set up the first appointment as soon as possible, since they have taken that important first step to address this issue,” says Cheryl Person, UEHC nurse manager.

Registered nurses operate the UEHC program under the direction of a UEHC physician. The nurses are certified by the American Heart Association, and have received training at the Freedom From Smoking Facilitator Workshop, offered by the American Lung Association.

Person emphasizes that the program is not limited to smoking—users of chewing tobacco can also seek the clinic’s services. “Those who chew tobacco face the same challenges when quitting that smokers face,” she says. “They are equally addictive. The problem of chewing tobacco is not always as obvious to the general public.”

With tobacco cessation, there are a few typical issues: stress, weight gain, and irritability are examples. The nurses work hard on behavioral modification and stress management, and take a close look at the when, where, and why of the patients’ actions. Person says some people are willing to deal with these peripheral issues; to them, the benefits of tobacco cessation outweigh these things.

The cessation program involves counseling sessions that examine the patient’s health and smoking history, and development of an individual smoking cessation plan. The clinic maintains contact throughout the plan, scheduling follow-up visits within a 6- to 10-week period.

The program offers various methods to help tobacco users quit, including nicotine replacement through lozenges, patches, gum, and inhalers, as well as medications such as Zyban.

Few people going through the cessation program attempt to quit cold turkey.

“The nicotine patch seems to work best for our clients,” Person says.

Available to UI faculty and staff members since 1999, the cessation program typically sees between 20 and 30 people per year. Person says more UI employees have begun taking advantage of the clinic’s services in recent months following the establishment of a campus-wide no-smoking policy in August that bans smoking within 25 feet of all occupied UI building entrances and exits, as well as parking facility stair towers, elevators, lobbies, and doors.

Other patients are drawn to the program because of the employee health clinic’s connection with Clean Air for Everyone (CAFE) Johnson County, a non-profit organization that aims to eliminate the health problems caused by tobacco use. CAFE, which includes faculty from the Colleges of Public Health and Dentistry on its committee, offers funds from a Harkin Wellness Grant to help offset the costs of nicotine replacement therapies.

If you are interested in the tobacco cessation program, call the University Employee Health Clinic at (35)6-3631 to make an appointment. The clinic is located on the first floor of Boyd Tower in University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.

by Christopher Clair