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MultiCare Health System - Tobacco Cessation Program
The Tobacco-Free Campus Implementation Team in 2000 (renamed the Clean Air Committee in 2007), representing various departments throughout the system, developed and implemented plans to make MultiCare tobacco-free. In January 2005, MultiCare contacted Franciscan Health System and Good Samaritan Hospital to forge a partnership and, together with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, went tobacco-free almost a year before Washington state passed a smoke-free workplace initiative. MultiCare contracted with a tobacco cessation specialist in 2004 to begin providing QuitSmart classes and free support groups. In May 2007, MultiCare was the first Washington state hospital system to hire a full-time tobacco cessation coordinator to create a comprehensive Tobacco Cessation Program. In 2007, the QuitSmart class was reduced from eight to six hours, and the fee was reduced in 2008 from $80 to $25 to make it more accessible.
What is it?
The Tobacco-Free Campus Implementation Team in 2000 (renamed the Clean Air Committee in 2007), representing various departments throughout the system, developed and implemented plans to make MultiCare tobacco-free. In January 2005, MultiCare contacted Franciscan Health System and Good Samaritan Hospital to forge a partnership and, together with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, went tobacco-free almost a year before Washington state passed a smoke-free workplace initiative. MultiCare contracted with a tobacco cessation specialist in 2004 to begin providing QuitSmart classes and free support groups. In May 2007, MultiCare was the first Washington state hospital system to hire a full-time tobacco cessation coordinator to create a comprehensive Tobacco Cessation Program. In 2007, the QuitSmart class was reduced from eight to six hours, and the fee was reduced in 2008 from $80 to $25 to make it more accessible.
Who is it for?
Employees, patients, visitors and the community.
Why do they do it?
In 1999, MultiCare Health System’s employees identified in a survey a desire to change tobacco use in the workplace. Tobacco products, when used as intended, kill 440,000 people each year. Seventeen percent of residents in Washington state use tobacco. In Pierce County, 19 percent of residents use tobacco. Those who successfully quit their addiction indicate that they have more confidence, self-esteem and self-worth. Within 20 minutes of quitting tobacco, the body starts to heal. Blood pressure, pulse rate and temperature return to normal; within eight hours, carbon monoxide and oxygen levels return to normal; within 24 hours, the chance of heart attack decreases. Within two weeks to three months, circulation improves and lung function increases up to 30 percent. Within a year, the death rate from heart disease drops to half that of tobacco users.
Impact
Support groups are attended by a cross-section of ethnic populations and the underserved and include 1,872 people a year (50 percent employees/50 percent community).
Contact: Lori Tanner, MPH, RD
Director, Center for Healthy Living
Telephone: 253-403-7894
E-mail: lori.tanner@multicare.org
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