MAHONING VALLEY Separating people and tobacco use

The promise of a healthier life has encouraged many tobacco users to join in the Great American Smokeout.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Several stop-smoking activities will highlight the 26th anniversary of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout.
The Great American Smokeout, which is Thursday, is the nationally recognized day when tobacco users are asked to put down their cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and other tobacco products for a day.
Tobacco products rob thousands of Americans of longer, healthier lives, said Al Stabilito, communications and advocacy director of ACS Mahoning County Unit, which serves Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
The promise of a healthier life has encouraged many tobacco users to join in the Smokeout by giving up tobacco products for at least one day.
Quitting a highly addictive habit is hard to do, however, and often takes more than one attempt to succeed, Stabilito said.
Research indicates that smokers are most successful in quitting if they have help from a combination of sources, including nicotine replacement tools, prescription drugs, counseling and a network of supportive family and friends.
For those who wish to stop smoking, ACS offers a toll-free smoking cessation hot line from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.
The call center will be staffed by individuals who can offer support, advice and local referrals. The hot line number is (888) 227-6446.
Activities planned
Among activities Thursday is an information table in Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., sponsored by the newly formed Smokers Anonymous support group.
Also, former smoker Kevin Sellards, and cancer survivors Russ Clouser and Paul Tomalka, will provide information on the dangers of tobacco and how they quit, Stabilito said.
Among other things, the ACS advocates responsible tobacco policies and public programs at all levels of government, schools and workplaces, said Clouser, of Warren.
He is a former smoker who survived lung cancer and is co-chairman of this year's local event.
"Our overall goal is to contain tobacco use as much as possible," said Tomalka, of Youngstown, event co-chairman and a survivor of throat cancer.
"Our hope is that the Great American Smokeout will be the catalyst that helps some people quit smoking, others to never start, and still others to pass laws that will help protect Ohioans from the health hazards posed by tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke," Tomalka added.
Background
The idea for the Smokeout grew out of a 1971 event in Randolph, Mass., when Arthur P. Mullaney asked people to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund.
In 1974, Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded the state's first D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day. The idea caught on, and on Nov. 18, 1976, the California Division of the ACS got nearly one million smokers to quit for a day. The Smokeout went nationwide in 1977.
Stabilito said more information about how to get involved in the Great American Smokeout and to learn about tobacco cessation strategies are available by calling (800) 227-2345 or visiting www.cancer.org.
alcorn@vindy.com