Quit Now Support is Here

The NZDF has joined forces with The Quit Group, a charitable trust which provides government funded smoking cessation services, to encourage military and civilian smokers to quit. Partners are also included in the campaign, says Assistant Director of Medical Policy CAPT Kevin Forward, because they are often integral in someone deciding to give up smoking (partners can access the support through the Quitline 0800 778 778 or visit www.quit.org.nz to order low-cost nicotine patches and/or gum. Assistance may also be arranged through your local camp or Base).

The Quit campaign involves issuing subsidised patches and/or gum to smokers who register, as well as educational support. The NZDF has trained more than 20 smoking cessation educators at its camps and Bases, and they will provide counselling, access to nicotine patches and/or gum and support to any personnel who register.

CAPT Forward says the gum and patches will only cost approximately $5 per person per month, despite how much is needed by an individual. Clients are eligible for up to twelve weeks of patches and gum, and the smoking cessation educators will contact clients regularly to provide support and encouragement. The educators are all health professionals – nursing officers, medics, dental hygienists, and physical training instructors.

‘The campaign is not about waving a big stick and insisting our people stop smoking. We realise [stopping] is not easy, and that support is needed. Nicotine is addictive and smoking can become a lifelong habit. Most people try to stop smoking many times before they quit permanently, but we know that it is important to keep trying because the next quit attempt may be the one that lasts forever. Educators are being encouraged to tailor the programme to suit the needs of their particular Base or client group.’

The NZDF has joined the campaign to pro-actively encourage wellness in its personnel and their partners. The NZDF realises new recruits often begin smoking when they enter the Services, through peer pressure, moving into a new career, or stress, and aims to provide education about why and how they can stop.

Do you know why you want to stop smoking?

People who have quit say it’s important to be clear about your reasons. Here are some of the best reasons we know.

Taking control

Quitting smoking is a challenge. Once you have set the goal to quit and succeeded, you will feel really proud of yourself. Quitting helps you take on other challenges.

Fitness

Smoking makes it harder to exercise and reduces the benefits to your body.

Money

Giving up smoking is like getting a pay rise. In a year you save about $1,900* if you smoke 10 a day and about $3,800* if you smoke 20 a day. *At current prices (2006).

Your appearance

Skin starved of oxygen by smoking becomes dry and grey. You develop wrinkles around the eyes and mouth much earlier, and the tar stains your teeth and fingers. Your breath and clothing smells of cigarette smoke.

Lifestyle reasons

Being a smoker can be a nuisance, like when you are on a plane or train and can’t smoke, or when you are out with friends who don’t smoke.

Smoking causes diseases

As your health deteriorates you may develop serious illnesses, such as heart disease, emphysema, pleurisy, lung and other cancers, and gum disease. One in two smokers will die early from these illnesses.

Fertility and childbirth

Men who smoke may suffer impotence due to damage to the blood vessels in the penis. Smokers may produce less sperm and their sperm may have more abnormalities. Women who smoke take longer to conceive and are more likely to have a miscarriage.

Babies born to mothers who smoked in pregnancy are more likely to be premature, stillborn or die shortly after birth. A baby exposed to tobacco smoke has a higher risk of dying from cot death.

Children whose parents smoke are more likely to get pneumonia and bronchitis in their first year of life, to develop asthma and suffer from more frequent and more severe attacks, and to become regular smokers themselves.

Cigarettes are full of poisons

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals. These include tar and nicotine, carbon monoxide (found in car exhaust fumes), ammonia (found in floor cleaner) and arsenic (found in rat poison).

Extra support to quit

Find extra support to quit smoking at www. quit.org.nz. You can access calculators to tell you how much money you will save from not smoking. You can also keep a blog (online journal or diary) which can be private or shared with other quitters. Public blogs have turned into an important support forum for many smokers trying to quit.