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POW’R Cessation Center Lauds White Plains Hospital’s Decision to Adopt a Tobacco-Free Policy

POW’R Tobacco Cessation Center, serving Putnam, Orange, Westchester and Rockland counties offers evidence-based education, training and resources to facilitate the implementation of systems within health care organizations and provider offices to screen patients for tobacco use and prompt providers to offer advice and assistance to quit. The cessation center also uses public health communications, including mass media, public relations, and media advocacy, to motivate tobacco users to quit.

A program of the American Lung Association in New York funded through a grant from the New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program, POW’R Tobacco Cessation Center is one of 19 cessation centers across New York State dedicated to making each community a healthier place to live, work, play…and breathe.

Key Comments for WPH November 18th Press Event by Scott Santarella, President and CEO American Lung Association in New York:

  • It’s great to be here today. Today we’re celebrating White Plains Hospital’s decision to become an entirely tobacco-free campus.
  • Congratulations White Plains Hospital! Because of your action, starting today your staff, patients and visitors will all be able to breathe easier.
  • It’s fitting that White Plains Hospital is going smokefree today. Today is the Great American Smokeout -- a day we hope that many New Yorkers and Americans will make a serious attempt at quitting smoking.
  • Quitting smoking is the single best thing people can do to lengthen their lives and improve its quality
  • At the American Lung Association in New York, we’ve been in the business of helping people quit smoking for a long time.
  • Why? Because we know that fewer smokers’ means more lives saved and it also means we’re closer to living in a world free of lung disease.
  • We offer a program called Freedom From Smoking®, which has helped many people quit nationwide.
  • And our message to people when they are trying to quit is simple: Don’t Give Up.
  • Most successful quitters try several times before they quit smoking for good.
  • If you try to quit smoking today but aren’t successful, don’t give up. Every day is a good day to quit smoking. And we have tools to help you.
  • Talk to your doctor. Call our Lung Helpline at 1-800-LUNG-USA and ask to speak with a smoking cessation specialist. Call the NY Smokers Quit Line at 1-866-NY-QUITS. Visit our Freedom From Smoking program online at ffsonline.org
  • There are many resources available to help you be successful in quitting smoking. Use them and don’t stop trying.
  • If you are a doctor, we need your help too.
  • We know that when clinicians help patients stop smoking, success rates increase dramatically.
  • We urge physicians to visit TalkToYourPatients.org for tips on how to assist their smoking patients on how to stop smoking.
  • With all of us working together, we can and will reduce the number of people addicted to tobacco.
  • I commend the administration at White Plains Hospital for setting the right example in our community by declaring this hospital campus entirely smokefree.
  • Our position at the American Lung Association has been that no one should be subjected to walking through a cloud of dangerous secondhand smoke in order to access vital health care services.
  • Thank you for hearing us and for acting to protect your patients and staff from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
  • 25,000 New Yorkers die from smoking each year. And another 2,500 die as a result of secondhand smoke exposure.
  • We need more hospitals in New York to follow the example that has been set by White Plains hospital and other smokefree hospitals in the state so that we can put an end to this terrible death toll that tobacco has inflicted on our friends, neighbors and loved ones.
  • We’ve been proud to partner with White Plains hospital in helping the campus go smokefree. We look forward to continuing to partner with you to further improve the lung health of the White Plains community.
  • Thank you.
For more information about POW’R Tobacco Cessation Center visit www.powrcessationcenter.org.