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E-Cigarettes Under Fire: Health Hazard or Tobacco-free Triumph?

By Lora Shea on June 30, 2009 3:56 PM | Comments (1) | Trackbacks (0)
Supporters of the e-cigarette see it as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. After all, it produces no smoke and uses rechargeable batteries. It's even promoted as a new way to get around public smoking bans. But this nicotine delivery device is not safe. Groups like the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids have called for its removal from the market.

Joel Dunnington, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Diagnostic Radiology, and Rob Watkins, a puppet from Too Cool to Smoke: with The Kids on the Block, chime in on the growing debate.


Puppet appears courtesy of The Kids on the Block, Inc., Columbia, Maryland, www.kotb.com.

If you are in the Houston area, request a visit from Rob. Too Cool to Smoke: with The Kids on the Block puppet show is a free tobacco awareness program for children in kindergarten through fourth grade.

So what do YOU think? Let us know your take on the e-cigarette controversy.


Resources
Become a fan of Too Cool to Smoke on Facebook
Visit our website to learn more about smoking and tobacco, including how to quit.


Former Smoker Leads the Pack of Nurses Promoting Cessation

By Cancerwise Blogger on June 26, 2009 4:39 PM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
By Robin Davidson, Staff Writer


marylouheater.jpg

Mary Lou Heater, MSN, RN, PMHCNS-BC, is an advanced practice nurse who works for M. D. Anderson's Tobacco Treatment Program (TTP) and each day, she may provide counseling to 10 or more cancer patients struggling to break the hold of the tobacco addiction that may have caused their disease.

The TTP is an intensive tobacco cessation program, that is open to all patients, as well as M. D. Anderson employees and their dependents, free of charge. In some cases, family members of patients living in the same household may also be considered eligible for the program. With an outstanding 41-percent success rate, Mary Lou Heater wants more people to take advantage.

Patients like Mary Lou's no-nonsense approach. As a former smoker who's married to a former smoker, she knows just how hard it is to quit.

 "The Tobacco Treatment Program is a holistic approach to addiction therapy. I see patients every day who really want to quit. They need help," she says. "When they are first diagnosed, they are scared. Maybe they're going through chemotherapy treatments or maybe they are dealing with a secondary cancer. I have a real appreciation for our patients, their struggles and their resiliency."

A brief intervention may be all it takes to get people to come around to an idea. "I want nurses to learn the five A's: Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist and Arrange. Nurses see the most patients and have the most interaction with patients. They are far and away the best health care practitioners to intervene, and studies prove nursing interventions are effective. If one of our doctors or nurses has a patient interested in quitting, I will go directly to that patient."

The TTP involves three months of active treatment, but follow-up extends to 15 months to monitor status. As an advanced practice nurse in collaboration with the program's addiction psychiatrist, she both dispenses pharmacological therapy and provides the behavioral counseling that may make it possible for a patient to quit. Outpatient visits to the Behavioral Research Treatment Center may be ideal, but Heater's job often sends her directly to a patient's bedside. Those who need support know she's just a phone call away.

"Being with patients, you forget everything else. Since I've been in nursing, I've worked strictly with psychiatry and addictions. My work is very rewarding, but most importantly I love the patients. They are as amazing as the work we do here."

Visit the Tobacco Treatment Program to learn more about the no-cost cessation services provided, call 713-792-QUIT, or send an e-mail to quitnow@mdanderson.org.

 

Smoking Cessation Resources

Guide to Quit Smoking (ACS)

How to Quit (CDC)

Paul Cinciripini, Ph.D., Talks About the Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act

By Cancerwise Blogger on June 16, 2009 9:04 AM | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
Last week The New York Times reported that the U.S. House of Representatives moved quickly to pass the Senate's tobacco bill and get it to the White House, where President Obama promised to sign it.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act would for the first time give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products. What effect will this legislation really have on the use of tobacco products in the United States? Paul Cinciripini, Ph.D., professor and director of the Tobacco Treatment Program in the Department of Behavioral Science at M. D. Anderson, weighs in on the topic.





More articles about Tobacco and Smoking

Smoking Facts from M. D. Anderson

Center for Disease Control - Tobacco Use

Questions About Smoking, Tobacco, and Health (American Cancer Society )

Tobacco Legislation Expected to Pass Senate (New York Times)

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