Quitting Smoking

Tobacco Cessation Clinic

Most of us know how tobacco use such as smoking, chewing or dipping can affect your health. However quitting can be a difficult and frustrating challenge. For many of us, the use of tobacco is a long-time habit, and quitting is a permanent lifestyle change. Southwest General can help community residents stop the habit and improve their health.

Southwest General’s Tobacco Cessation Clinic provides quality, evidence-based care in a non-judgmental, supportive and one-on-one environment. The Clinic offers a combination of behavioral therapy and medication that has been proven to dramatically increase the chance of success in permanently quitting smoking.

Professionals Who Care

The Tobacco Cessation Clinic is staffed by pharmacists who are certified tobacco cessation specialists and who approach each patient with dignity, understanding and compassion. They are dedicated in their mission to work with and support each patient in achieving the goal of being able to quit smoking. Their work includes helping patients understand the options available to them and creating a customized plan to help each patient quit smoking.

Comprehensive, Affordable Program

Southwest General’s Tobacco Cessation Clinic provides detailed, highly personalized treatment and offers either individual appointments or a class setting. Services includes:

60-minute consultation with a pharmacist
Optional consultation with a licensed dietitian or respiratory therapist
Individualized treatment plan using proven techniques, nicotine replacement strategies and medications
24-hour “Quit Line”: 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669)
Goal setting with a plan to get you through nicotine addiction, triggers and relapses
Financial assistance for prescription and over-the-counter medications
Follow-up calls and visits, as needed

Some health plans and employers help cover the cost of the program and nicotine replacement products. The pharmacist will verify costs prior to recommending/prescribing. Also, check into your benefits for more details.

As soon as you quit smoking, your body begins a series of healing or recovery changes that continue for years.

20 Minutes after quitting:

Your heart rate drops to a normal level.

12 Hours after quitting:

The carbon monoxide level in your blood drops to normal.

2 Weeks to 3 Months after quitting:

Your risk of having a heart attack begins to drop.
Your lung function begins to improve.

1 to 9 Months after quitting:

Your coughing and shortness of breath decrease.

1 Year after quitting:

Your added risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker’s.

5 to 15 Years after quitting:

Your risk of having a stroke is reduced to that of a nonsmoker’s.
Your risk of getting cancer of the mouth, throat, or esophagus is half that of a smoker’s.

10 Years after quitting:

Your risk of dying from lung cancer is about half that of a smoker’s.
Your risk of getting bladder cancer is half that of a smoker’s.
Your risk of getting cervical cancer or cancer of the larynx, kidney, or pancreas decreases.

15 Years after quitting:

Your risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of a nonsmoker’s.

Quitting Just Makes “Cents”

Logically, quitting tobacco use just doesn’t affect just your health. It also can affect your finances, too. Take smoking, for example. A pack-a-day smoker spends the following on cigarettes (based on $6.24/pack). This amounts to:

1 month - $189.80
1 year - $2,278
5 years - $11,388

Think about what your tobacco habit will cost you this month, this year, in five years?

Worried About the Weight Gain After Quitting Tobacco Use?

If you're concerned about gaining weight after you quit tobacco use, consider joining LifeWorks of Southwest General, a premier health and wellness facility. For more information, call LifeWorks at 440-816-4214 or visit www.lifeworksfitness.net.

We Look Forward to Helping You

Call today and set your "quit date." For an appointment to Southwest General's Tobacco Cessation Clinic, call 440-816-2632. Please call to confirm group classes. Individual sessions can be arranged as well during Clinic hours.

We are located at:

Southwest General Health Center (Main Campus)
18697 Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights
Building A, Suite 311