Health and wellness centers help some keep resolutions Published Jan. 11, 2006 By Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenny Ragland 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. (AFPN) -- Health and wellness centers Air Force-wide can help smokers kick their habit. Smoking cessation programs are offered for active duty personnel, retirees and Reservists. At the center here, the six-session program is combined with drug and patch therapy, psychological tips and physiological exercises, and strives to help Airmen quit for good. “One third of our base personnel are tobacco users,” said 1st Lt. Christle Peaden, an aerospace physiologist. “It breaks down as just over 25 percent are smokers and just over 6 percent are smokeless tobacco, snuff users.” The Air Force publicly discourages the use of all tobacco products. “We don’t want people to smoke but quitting is harder than non-smokers realize,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “It is as addictive as heroin or cocaine and is emotionally addictive as well.” Costs over a lifetime are much higher than some smokers realize. “At two packs a day over 40 years a smoker will pay over $130,000,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “And that doesn’t include the medical costs. Smokers run up much higher medical bills than non-smokers.” The McConnell wellness center offers the classes six times a year, once every two months. They meet weekly for an hour and a half. Session one starts with a benefits and sacrifices worksheet and developing positive mind sets. Sessions two and three begin the drug therapies of Zyban and nicotine patches. Four and five include exercise, nutrition and relaxation training. Session six wraps up with communication techniques to help keep the smoking stopped. “We’ve had good success,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “While deployments and transfers affect the follow-up statistics -- we had two in the last class of six who stayed quit and that’s pretty good.” Because quitting is so hard, the participants who resumed smoking are encouraged to take the class over as many times as they need to in order to stop smoking. “This is no easy thing,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “We try to get all of the ones who failed to come back and try again and again until they win the battle.” In order to stay in the class the participants need to have good attendance. “If they only come to one class and then try to show up to the fourth session we will make them start it over again,” Lieutenant Peaden said. For smokeless tobacco users, the class has some interesting information and material to help the user quit. “Smokeless tobacco has 3-and-one-half times the nicotine as cigarettes,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “Dipping is very hard to stop, too, and they need the class just as much as the smokers.” The snuff dippers can get non-tobacco snuff made from tea leaves. “It looks and smells just like dip,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “It comes in the cans or the pouches – whatever the user prefers.” “Also the smokeless users need the patches as well,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “With nicotine levels that high the patches are recommended many times by their doctors just like they would for the smokers.” In order to receive the Zyban and nicotine patches, many Air Force smokers trying to quit are surprised when their doctors tell them they have to go through the health and wellness class. “Even non-military doctors are insisting on their patients going through smoking cessation classes in order for them to prescribe the drugs,” Lieutenant Peaden said. “Doctors are very reluctant to prescribe medications for an addiction this strong unless their patient is getting help to insure that it works.” Information on smoking cessation is available at local health and wellness centers.