Because cessation intervention has not traditionally been a recognized specialty and was considered a "niche" field, I decided to be practical and pursued a graduate degree in nursing administration at Loyola University of Chicago. But since being certified by the ALA in 1984, the fact that I never stopped facilitating cessation programs, kept up on the literature, provided presentations to community and professionals whenever and wherever I could, finally paid off - albeit it took years! It was not until 2000 when I finally was offered a position at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as a full time Tobacco Cessation Specialist. And I have been going strong in the field ever since.
In addition to my position at Northwestern, I serve as a Tobacco Cessation Consultant for many Chicago area hospitals. I have published articles and presented numerous workshops and seminars for health professionals as well as for community groups on tobacco cessation throughout the nation. I was privileged to be included on the expert panels of both the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians and the Illinois Academy of Pediatrics, each of which produced CME presentations entitled "Adult Smoking Cessation: Intervention Strategies for Primary Care Providers" and "Adolescent Tobacco Use - Prevention and Cessation: Strategies for Primary Care Providers" respectively.
I was particularly pleased to be a peer reviewer for the Smoking Cessation Practice Guidelines, 2008, which will be released to the public in May. One of the most rewarding projects I have ever been involved with that has had a national impact is serving as the Project Consultant for the Smoking Cessation Initiative, of the American Dental Hygienists' Association. The initiative was designed to promote cessation intervention by dental hygienists (www.askadviserefer.org). I am an active member of ATTUD (Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence, http://www.attud.org/), an organization of providers dedicated to the promotion of and increased access to evidence-based tobacco treatment for the tobacco user. I was a founding member of The Nightingales (http://www.nightingalesnurses.org/), a group of nurse activists who work to focus public attention on the behavior of the tobacco industry and its contribution to the preventable epidemic of tobacco-caused disease and death.. Recently, I launched the Chicago Second Wind: A Chicagoland Smoking Cessation Initiative. In addition, I have my own Tobacco Cessation Consulting company, QuitOnce, http://www.quitoncechicago.com/.
Although smoking prevalence has decreased dramatically over the past 25 years, the number of people who currently smoke is still substantial given the health dangers and the level of public awareness of those dangers. Smokers site a health professional's advice to quit as an important motivator for attempting to stop smoking. With effective education, counseling and support (rather than condemnations and warnings about dangers of smoking), those of us in healthcare can provide an invaluable service to anyone who uses a tobacco product. Helping someone overcome a tobacco addiction may be the most broad-reaching health care intervention and it is my hope that joining the HealthCentral team will allow me to provide assistance to a large number of smokers!
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