Quitting smoking is one of the most important actions people can take to improve their overall health. This is true regardless of their age or how long they have been smoking.¹

The Brunswick County Health Services, Tobacco Cessation Program, impacts the community by promoting strategies to help people who use tobacco quit and prevent initiation of nicotine addiction. In addition, Brunswick County Health Services realizes a need to identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities in our county. The disparities include high-risk populations such as those with mental illness, substance use disorders, and those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. Other disproportion populations include low-income, less-educated, males, young adults, children, Black and Native Americans.

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Smoking Cessation: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2020. [accessed 2020 May 13].

Region 8 Tobacco Control Collaborative-Ernest Watts 

Staff with UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health, You Quit, Two Quit program

In 2023, Brunswick County Health Services began training to implement the Freedom From Smoking program. American Lung Association has been helping people quit smoking for over 40 years and has helped one million people quit for good. Freedom From Smoking® is ranked one of the most effective cessation programs in the country, as it is available in a variety of formats and includes a comprehensive variety of evidence-based, proven-effective cessation techniques. Freedom From Smoking® can help people quit all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping devices. 

In 2023, health services promoted Quitline services (1-800-Quit-Now/Quitline NC) through monthly social media and at outreach events. Additionally, health educators disseminated fifty-five Quitline NC registration packets to increase the number of providers/clinics that sign up to refer their patients to Quitline NC services. 

In May 2024, Travis Greer Health Educator II, completed the Freedom From Smoking® training and is now certified to deliver the program. In June and July 2024 program recruitment and awareness activities took place for the August 6, 2024 start date of the program.