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The Great American Smokeout - After 32 Years, Why Do We Still Need This Event?
Because it works as an effective promotional event to instill  behavior change. As a health professional, I can always rely on The Great American Smokeout (GAS) to rally and focus the worksite on the harmful effects of smoking and the benefits of quitting. The GAS is always the third Thursday of November every year, so that make this year's date 11/20/08. Sponsored by the American Cancer Society (ACS), this event is celebrating its 32nd anniversary.
Get the Toolkit
From a committee perspective, everything is done for you. Download the GAS employer toolkit from this link (GAS Toolkit). It contains all the "how-to" for a successful program implementation, including:
- Materials - posters, payroll stuffers, fact sheets, stickers;
- Email communications;
- Quick tips;
- Recipes;
- Suggested workplace activities;
- Stop smoking resources, including their own Quitline, and the ACS Freshstart Program.
Why Quit?
According to the U.S. Surgeon General, people who quit smoking, regardless of age, live longer than people who continue to smoke, and quitting substantially decreases the risk of lung, laryngeal, esophageal, oral, pancreatic, bladder, and cervical cancers.
- Research has shown that people who quit before age 50 reduce their risk of dying in the next 15 years by half compared with those who continue to smoke.
- Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens. In addition, many of these substances, such as carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, and lead are poisonous and toxic to the human body.
Create a Supportive Environment
For smokers who are interested in quitting, here are some examples of worksite activities that can help smokers get throughout the day:
- Have oral substitutes handy like: mints, gum, celery,
 carrots, apples, raisins, ect.
- Designate relaxation breaks in the a.m. and p.m. for everyone to voluntarily join in on some stretches and deep breathing.
- Conduct a group walk at lunch.
- For every interested smoker, assign a non-smoking buddy for the day to provide support.
- Provide rubber bands that can be worn around the smoker's wrist. Whenever they have a thought about smoking, they can snap the rubber band against their wrist to change their thinking, and associate an unpleasant feeling with the thought.
More Resources
There are many more sites on the web that provide great information and free smoking cessation services:
Did You Know?
The GAS grew out of a 1971 event in Randolph, MA, in which Arthur 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, Minnesota spearheaded the first D-Day, or Don't Smoke Day. On Nov. 18, 1976, the California Division of the ACS succeeded in getting nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. This event marked the first Great American Smokeout, which went nationwide the next year.
The Benefit Advisors Network is not responsible for, does not endorse, and cannot assure the accuracy of information on the listed web sites.
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Wellness Connection
