We’re offering a great gift option for friends and family this holiday season. If you know someone who uses tobacco and has expressed the desire to quit, why not give them the “Gift of Health”?
Most tobacco users say that support makes it easier to quit and your encouragement along with proven cessation methods will improve their chances of quitting successfully.
Here are a few tips to help you be a great cessation support person:
• Ask if you can offer support, don’t just assume that it’s wanted.
• Don’t threaten, nag or lecture about the effects of tobacco. Focus on the benefits of quitting like saving money and improving health.
• e prepared for irritability and moodiness. Nicotine withdrawl can cause irritability.
• Be available – whether by phone or in person. Keep in touch offering encouragement or even staying “hands off” if needed. Just be there!
To help you create your “Gift of Health”, stop by our FREE, self-service “Cessation Stations” in the lobbies of the VNA in Steamboat, 940 Central Park Drive, Suite 101 and the VNA in Craig, 745 Russell Street, throughout the holiday season. You can get cessation materials for adults, teens, pregnant women, smokers or smokeless tobacco users along with lots of other tobacco information to build your own “Gift of Health” for your friends and family. Or you can pick-up FREE Quit Kits at the Space Station Gas Station in Steamboat at 644 Lincoln Avenue.
Give a gift that can be a lifesaver – give a “Gift of Health!”. For more information, contact Vicki Barron, Northwest Colorado VNA Community Health Educator at 875-1883 or vbarron@blog.northwestcoloradohealth.org.