SMOKING CESSATION
Our commitment to the health and well-being of our patients and community stands strong as Compass Medical becomes a tobacco-free organization. We continue to promote the principles of good health for all our patients and employees by supporting a tobacco-free environment. Take the pledge and quit with us today!
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT QUITTING SMOKING
- Tobacco use can lead to tobacco/nicotine dependence and serious health problems. Quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of developing smoking-related diseases.
- Tobacco/nicotine dependence is a condition that often requires repeated treatments, but there are helpful treatments and resources for quitting.
- Smokers can and do quit smoking. In fact, today there are more former smokers than current smokers.
HEALTH BENEFITS TO QUITTING
Tobacco smoke contains a deadly mix of more than 7,000 chemicals; hundreds are harmful, and about 70 can cause cancer. Smoking increases the risk for serious health problems, many diseases, and death. Quitting can also help:
- Lower risk for lung cancer and many other types of cancer.
- Reduce risk for heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease (narrowing of the blood vessels outside your heart).
- Reduce heart disease risk within 1 to 2 years of quitting.
- Reduce respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. While these symptoms may not disappear, they do not continue to progress at the same rate among people who quit compared with those who continue to smoke.
- Reduce risk of developing some lung diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as COPD, one of the leading causes of death in the United States).
- Reduce risk for infertility in women of childbearing age. Women who stop smoking during pregnancy also reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby.