North Shore-LIJ’s Center for Tobacco Control Receives $3.1M State Grant to Train Clinicians to Help Long Islanders Quit Smoking

GREAT NECK, NY – With the renewal of a five-year, $3.15 million New York State grant, smoking cessation experts at North Shore-LIJ’s Center for Tobacco Control (CTC) will increase their educational outreach to doctors, nurses and other clinicians across Long Island to help their patients quit smoking.

 “Research shows that if a physician, nurse or other healthcare provider simply advises a smoker to quit, the patient’s quit rate is increased by 30 percent,” said Patricia Folan, RN, director of the Center for Tobacco Control. “This is why our efforts are concentrated on educating clinicians about evidence-based practices to treat patients with tobacco dependence, along with other initiatives. With effective tools, healthcare providers can have a tremendous impact on a patient’s success rate in quitting smoking.”

 Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, killing 25,500 New Yorkers and 430,000 Americans every year. It’s estimated that there are more than 367,000 adult smokers in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

 The state Department of Health will award the CTC $630,000 each year through 2014, as part of a five-year, $77 million statewide tobacco control initiative. The funding will be used by the CTC to increase its outreach and education to hospitals, healthcare organizations and primary care provider practices on Long Island and in some areas of Queens to ensure that they have a system in place to: screen all patients for tobacco use, provide brief advice to quit smoking at every patient visit and provide help to patients to quit successfully. The CTC was one of 19 state-designated tobacco cessation centers in the state to receive a grant, and the only one on Long Island.

 Since 1999, the CTC has provided tobacco dependence treatment education to 4,100 physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses and other healthcare providers in hospitals and physician practices in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The CTC also offers the only regularly scheduled free community smoking cessation program in Nassau County. The six-week program includes support, education, pharmacotherapy, and behavior modification as well as relapse prevention.  To date, the facility has helped more than 4,000 individuals quit smoking.

 The CTC staff will be able to custom tailor cessation education and services for each hospital or facility depending on its unique needs. Examples include: helping hospitals set up their own cessation classes, presentations to medical groups and offices, and providing tobacco education to nursing and medical students.

 “The state grant allows us to meet our goal, which is to decrease smoking on Long Island as well as decrease second-hand smoke, a health concern for family members of smokers,” said Ms. Folan.

 For more information contact North Shore-LIJ’s Center for Tobacco Control at (516) 466-1980, or the New York State Smoker’s Quit Line at: 1-866-NY-QUITS (1-866-697-8487).

Media Contact:  Betty Olt
bolt@nshs.edu
(516) 465-2645