NEW ORLEANS, La. (May 4, 2016) –The Smoking Cessation Trust, now in the fourth year of its 10-year program, today announced its partnership with Willis-Knighton Health System to offer free smoking cessation products and services to the people of the greater Shreveport-Bossier area. Willis-Knighton Health System is a not-for-profit health system and the largest healthcare provider in northwest Louisiana with four acute care hospitals, extended care center, skilled nursing, wellness centers and a continuing care retirement community. The new smoking cessation clinic programs are located at Willis-Knighton hospital campuses. The cessation clinics are accepting registrations online at wkhs.com or by calling (318) 212-8225.
According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease. The benefits of quitting smoking are substantial and immediate, and include:
●
20
minutes after quitting smoking, your heart rate begins to drop
●
12
hours after quitting, the level of carbon monoxide in your blood drops
●
Within
three months, lung function begins to improve
●
After
one year of quitting, the added risk of heart disease is half that of a current
smoker
●
Within
five years of quitting, the risk of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus,
and bladder is cut in half. In fact, one
in three cancer deaths in the U.S. would not happen if no one smoked.
"With the adult smoking
rate in Bossier Parish at more than a quarter of the population (25.6% as of
2015) and Caddo Parish slightly less (22% of the population smokes), we are
pleased to offer to the people of the Bossier-Shreveport area, the opportunity
to take advantage of the free resources available through the Smoking Cessation Trust to
help them give up cigarettes," said Mike Rogers, CEO, Smoking Cessation Trust
Management Services.
“Through our partnership with Willis-Knighton we will make a higher level of smoking cessation services available to Trust Members in this area of the State than has ever been available in the past. Willis Knighton’s new program will educate people about the dangers of smoking and how they can better their health, and their finances, by visiting the new clinics and taking advantage of what this free program has to offer.”
Louisiana presently ranks 46 out of 50 states for tobacco use, according to the 2015 America’s Health Rankings® Report from the United Health Foundation with nearly a quarter of the state’s residents smoking. The Trust, which has members in every parish of the state, is working towards its goal of helping 210,000 Louisianans become smoke-free by 2022. To date, the Trust has more than 51,000 applicants who have made the commitment to quit smoking.
For a list of statewide smoking cessation providers, click here. For more information or to apply, visit the Smoking Cessation Trust’s website at www.smokefreela.org; call locally at 504-529-5665 or toll-free at 855-259-6346.
About Willis-Knighton:
Willis-Knighton
Health System is a not-for-profit health system and the largest healthcare
provider in northwest Louisiana with four acute care hospitals, extended care
center, skilled nursing, wellness centers and a continuing care retirement
community. The health system includes a large network of employed physicians
and health professionals among its staff of more than 7,200 full- and part-time
employees, making it the region’s largest private employer. With a tradition of service since 1924, it
has become the region’s largest charitable donor, providing community benefits
through its “tithe the bottom line” philosophy of giving.
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