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The Ontario government is providing $250,000 to help expand the University of Ottawa Heart Institute’s successful smoking cessation program to ten hospitals in eastern Ontario.
“We’ve made important breakthroughs in treating smokers admitted to our facility, and we look forward to this model being used elsewhere,” says Dr. Andrew Pipe, director of prevention and rehabilitation services at the Institute. “It will be the first time that a smoking cessation program is implemented on a regional basis.”
The expanded program is expected to help an additional 2,100 people quit each year.
The great success of the program is generating international interest from other medical organizations seeking to adopt the approach. Last year, 49 per cent of the 1,300 smokers identified by the program were still not smoking six months after being discharged. This improves on the success rate of conventional cessation methods by more than 15 per cent.
Meanwhile, Dr. Pipe was appointed last month to a new committee that will help carry out the Smoke-Free Ontario campaign. The 15-member committee, chaired by Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson, will advise the government on regulations and enforcement of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, which will become effective May 31, 2006. The experts will also look at educational programs aimed at young people.
The goal of the campaign is to reduce tobacco consumption by 20 per cent within two years.
