Athens, Ga. – Beginning in January a six-week smoking cessation clinic will be held for employees of the University of Georgia and also for members of the Athens community. The clinic will be conducted by third-year pharmacy students under the direction of College of Pharmacy faculty.
The free clinic is limited to 20 participants so advance registration is recommended. The Tuesday night classes begin on Jan.14 and meet from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the UGA Training and Development building at 315 S. Thomas St. The program will consist of six consecutive weeks of smoking cessation classes with trained students conducting individual and group counseling sessions.
The program is adapted from Pfizer’s Beat The Pack Smoking Cessation Program. The sessions will deal with smoking issues, such as health risks of smoking, reasons to quit, smoking cessation aids, coping with the urge to smoke, handling relapse and staying quit. Pharmacy students will provide group programming and individualized counseling each week to help educate participants, develop a personalized quit plan and provide the tools to help prepare them to quit smoking.
Smoking cessation programs have been shown to increase the success rate for those who wish to stop smoking, said Dee Dee McEwen, who directs the program along with Kay Brooks and Ashley Hannings. All are faculty in the college’s division of experience programs.
The clinic was first offered in 2010 in direct response to the $50 per month surcharge that is levied on UGA employees who smoke or use tobacco products.
Registration forms can be downloaded in PDF format at http://www.rx.uga.edu/images/pdf/beat-the-pack/smoking-cessation-enrollment.pdf and the flier is available at http://www.rx.uga.edu/images/pdf/beat-the-pack/smoking-cessation-flyer.pdf. Completed forms may be faxed to 706-542-6022 or e-mailed to beatthepack@rx.uga.edu.
For more information, contact McEwen at beatthepack@rx.uga.edu or call Janet Fowler at 706-542-5328.
