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New Public Health Program Shows Smokers How to Become an EX(SM)

Posted on: Thursday, 16 November 2006, 12:00 CST

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- A new pilot public health program created by the American Legacy Foundation(R) and implemented in partnership with Tobacco Free Partners was launched today at The Frederick Meijer Gardens. The program, called EX(SM), which will air in broadcast media in Grand Rapids and the West Michigan area through July of 2007, aims to change the way smokers feel about the difficult process of quitting smoking, and points them to valuable resources to guide their quit attempt.

The timing of the EX launch coincides with the 30th Anniversary of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, a nationwide annual event where smokers are encouraged to break their nicotine addiction.

Most smokers in America -- 70 percent -- want to quit, but in 2000, only about five percent were successful in quitting long-term. A 2005 CDC report indicates that 30 percent of the population in the Grand Rapids metropolitan area (including Kent County, Barry County, Ionia County and Newaygo County) are former smokers while seventeen percent reported smoking everyday.

The American Legacy Foundation, a national public health foundation best known for its truth(R) youth-smoking prevention campaign, underscores the fact that while smokers may know why they should quit, many just don't know how. Therefore, EX steers away from focusing solely on the reasons for quitting and instead empowers them to use FREE resources and methods that have been proven to increase smokers' chances of quitting successfully. EX encourages smokers who want to quit to:

1. Call the national toll-free 1-800-QUIT-NOW number for personalized coaching; 2. Visit BecomeAnEX.org, where smokers will be able to develop their own customized quit plans online and connect with a community of other smokers trying to quit; and 3. Order a free copy of the Become an EX Quit Manual, which debunks many of the myths associated with quitting, including the perception of nicotine replacement therapy, and walks smokers through a step-by-step plan to break nicotine addiction. (The EX Quit Manual will be made available to local residents through the 1-800-QUIT-NOW number and EX Web site.)

"Most smokers who want to quit do not understand what it takes to conquer their nicotine addiction, or they underestimate how powerful that addiction can be," says American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. P.H. "The approach provided by EX changes that equation by showing them how they can quit -- namely by combining coaching, pharmacotherapy and social support, so that smokers have the support that they need at the times when they're most likely to crave a cigarette and smoke."

Legacy intends for EX to be a collaborative program that uses advertising as well as partnerships with local public health and community organizations to provide information to smokers who want to quit. In Grand Rapids, Legacy is working with Tobacco Free Partners, as well as local participating tobacco reduction coalitions and health departments throughout West Michigan, to make the program available to smokers.

"We are very pleased that the American Legacy Foundation chose Grand Rapids to pilot the EX program," said Mikelle Robinson, MA, manager of the Tobacco Section at the Michigan Department of Community Health. "EX will fill the public's need to know that services are available to help with smoking cessation. Promoting cessation is especially important as more communities go smokefree."

EX tools were designed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic and with input from former and current smokers who have lived with this struggle, in order to provide smokers with a realistic approach based on evidence based research.

The BecomeAnEX.org Web site and quit manual offer helpful quit-smoking information on planning, medication, counseling/coaching and social support which, when used together, have been proven to reduce the physical, mental and even emotional barriers that can make quitting smoking such a challenge. In addition, those visiting the site or using the quit manual will be able to:

* Create customized quit plans -- including selecting a quit date and determining their own smoking "triggers" -- that will help them prevent relapses throughout their quit attempt; * Converse with others who are trying to quit, through an online community, since social support is a significant factor in helping smokers to quit; * Access smoking cessation counseling online, or call the national stop smoking quit line 1-800-QUIT-NOW; and * Learn more about pharmacotherapy resources, such as nicotine replacement patches, lozenges, gum and prescription medications.

"We welcome the American Legacy Foundation to Grand Rapids," said Tom Peterson, MD, Chair of Tobacco Free Partners and Spectrum Health Healthier Communities Medical Director. "The positive, health improving message this campaign carries will be well received by West Michigan. Our community already has a track record of embracing health enhancement efforts. We're pleased to be among the first in the country to experience the campaign."

Grand Rapids is the third of four test markets where EX will run over the next six months. Additional test markets include Buffalo, NY, San Antonio, TX and Baltimore, MD. The pilot effort will continue through June of 2007.

Creative for EX was produced by Austin, Texas-based GSD&M, the American Legacy Foundation's agency of record for its smoking cessation advertising.

The American Legacy Foundation would also like to recognize Metro Health, Saint Mary's Health Care, Spectrum Health, Zeeland Community Hospital, Eastgate Pharmacy, Keystone Pharmacy, Forest Hills Pharmacy, Walker Street Pharmacy, Priority Health, Shape Corporation and family of companies and Blue Care Network of Michigan. These organizations and corporate citizens are among many of those helping us bring EX to Grand Rapids and West Michigan residents by displaying materials in retail locations, disseminating resources to their employees, patients, members, and cessation programs, and fostering healthier environments for the community.

The American Legacy Foundation(R) is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation's programs include truth(R), a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX(SM), an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit http://www.americanlegacy.org/.

To build partnerships that provide comprehensive tobacco prevention strategies, treatment programs, and influence policies to reduce the health, economic and emotional burdens that tobacco places on the residents of West Michigan. Tobacco Free Partners seeks to be a resource-rich, nationally recognized collaborative that serves as a centralized organization fostering comprehensive, evidence-based efforts toward a tobacco free West Michigan.

American Legacy Foundation

CONTACT: Midy Aponte, of American Legacy Foundation, +1-202-454-5561,maponte@americanlegacy.org; or Kim Collins, +1-904-280-2773,kcollins@golinharris.com, for American Legacy Foundation

Web site: http://www.americanlegacy.org/http://www.becomeanex.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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