Today’s the Great American Smokeout. That means the American Cancer Society, as well as Drug and Tobacco Free Starke County, are encouraging tobacco smokers to take the first step today to kick the habit. Continue reading
During yesterday’s national observation of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, Porter-Starke Services implemented its organization-wide tobacco free policy.
The policy took effect at all Porter-Starke offices in Knox, Valparaiso and Portage. Porter-Starke implemented a tobacco-free policy among its employees in 2007 and the clients of the Inpatient Care Center in 2009. While there will be no tobacco use allowed on Porter-Starke property, the organization will provide healthy alternatives to tobacco use on-site, including nicotine replacement options, tobacco cessation resources and healthy alternatives in its ongoing programming.
The Great American Smokeout is this Thursday, November 17th.
The American Cancer Society encourages you to quit smoking and this date can be used as the first day of smoking cessation or you can make November 17th a day to start thinking about quitting.
The current smoking rate in Indiana for adults is 21.2 percent which is above the national average of 20.6 percent. The cost to Indiana for smoking-related disease is $2.08 billion with $487 million covered by the state Medicaid program. About 9,700 adults die each year in Indiana from smoking.
