Smoking programs at WVU rarely used
West Virginia University students are not taking advantage of free resources made available to them through the University to quit smoking, according to Jon Bond, Student Government Association executive for Student Health.
There are workshops, classes, psychological services and replacement medication available for students who want to kick the habit, but they are not being used, he said.
“The marketing needs to improve because it has been brought to my attention that no students use these (programs) at all,” he said.
“Part of the problem is students feel as smokers they can quit once they get their degree. They don’t realize they have a physical addiction.”
One free smoking cessation program offered is the Freedom from Smoking program that includes eight one-hour group sessions. The program teaches a quitting approach through positive behavior change, according to Health Sciences Center’s Web site.
“If a student needs any contact, they are available through Health Sciences,” Bond said. “There are people that will be willing to help them quit in any way possible. Students need to realize that even social smoking can cause a physical addiction.”
Bond worries that lack of participation could prompt WVU to cut the programs.
“Some Universities have cut their programs because students don’t use them. I would hate for that to be the case here” he said.
The Health Sciences Center also offers smoking cessation programs to WVU employees with Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield and PEIA insurances.
Telephonic Smokeless is one such program. It pairs a WVU employee with a professional tobacco cessation specialist. Over the course of a year, five scheduled outbound calls and unlimited inbound calls can be conducted to address concerns and receive support, according to the HSC Web site.
In November, WVU Hospitals will go smoke-free to coincide with the Great American Smokeout. This change raised concerns that hospital employees will cross over to the Health Sciences Campus to smoke, increasing adverse effects from secondhand smoke there.
“We don’t want the Health Sciences Campus to become the University’s ashtray. I urge for support to get smoking banned from the campus,” said Dave Harshbarger, wellness manager at the HSC, during a meeting of the Student Government Association in September.
To combat the hospitals’ smoking ban, the HSC is providing information on how to quit to hospital and HSC employees through pamphlets.
Environmental, or second-hand, smoke causes more than 50 cancer-causing chemicals, read one pamphlet titled, “The Help You Need to Quit Smoking.”
The pamphlet urges smokers to consider the effects smoking has on others.
Bond said he agrees with the steps the HSC has taken because he feels secondhand smoke is a violation of a nonsmokers’ rights.
He also would like to see more students use the programs that are available to them, because he says they could help save students’ lives.
“It is a shame that these services are offered, and people don’t use them,” he said. “The HSC is willing to expand to meet the needs of every student. It’s not going to be first-come, first-served. Everyone can use these programs.”
For more information on smoking cessation programs call the HSC at 304-293-2520.
By Travis Crum, October 4, 2009
