Companies Look for Options to Help Workers Kick the Habit - State Journal

By CYNTHIA McCLOUD

For The State Journal

Smoking cessation is only a part of wellness programs, but it is where most companies start.

“Tobacco use is the behavior that has the most directly related health risks, COPD, hypertension, emphysema, peripheral artery disease,” said Tom Miller, an addictions counselor at beBetter Health, which runs the West Virginia Tobacco Quitline. “It is the behavior change program that many companies target first.”

Besides the Quitline, companies can call upon the Wellness Council of West Virginia to provide smoking cessation classes and other tools to their employees.

“There are 10 regional tobacco prevention coalition coordinators around the state assigned a multi-county region,” said Cheryl Jackson with the Wellness Council. “We are the community liaison for coordinating tobacco prevention, smoking cessation and clean indoor air in our specific regions.

“One of the things we do is teach Kaiser Permanente smoking cessation classes at no charge,” Jackson said. “KP is a one-session, three-hour course that is designed to help the individual create an individualized quit plan and successfully quit tobacco use. If they take one of these classes, they qualify for free nicotine replacement therapy through the state Quitline.”

She said any business in the state could contact a regional tobacco prevention coordinators through the state’s Division of Tobacco Prevention Web site, www.wvdtp.org.

Precision Pump & Valve Service Inc., which runs smoke-free shops in Charleston and in Louisville, Ky., has had Wellness Council speakers in several times.

“We try to reinforce the healthy benefits of not smoking,” said Precision’s Wellness Coordinator Earlene Kemerer. “We will provide ways for them to quit. We will pay for whatever doctor-recommended help they need. We’ve had smoking cessation classes. It is ongoing.”

Kemerer said she encourages smokers in the 75-employee, family-owned company to quit by telling them she and others in the company want the employee to work there for a long time.

Besides positive reinforcement, Precision is working with its health insurer to start penalizing smokers with higher premiums. She said the higher premiums may be in place by next year.

Nidia Henderson of the West Virginia Public Employees Insurance Agency said the organization started charging smokers higher premiums than nonsmokers about 10 years ago.

Besides the higher premium, PEIA also offers support for members who want to quit. The plan covers physicians’ visits and nicotine withdrawal therapies such as Zyban and Chantix. Members can request that coverage three times in their lifetime and once a year. Pregnant women have unlimited access to the benefit.

People can try to quit tobacco use several times before successfully kicking the habit, said Teresa Trimble, human resources representative at Huntington Steel & Supply Co. Inc.

So she and her tobacco use cessation committee are celebrating with five co-workers who have been tobacco-free for six months. The committee is continuing to support the nine other people who started the program in January, but didn’t make their goals.

Huntington Steel used a four-session program from the Wellness Council and added two sessions by bringing in speakers. They also made sure their workers knew about the Quitline and offered to buy smoking cessation aids such as nicotine patches.

Trimble said the company had tried a smoking cessation program four or five years ago, but it didn’t catch on. This time, employees came to her and asked for one. Not only did the company president approve instituting the program, he offered a cash incentive for workers who completed it and stayed tobacco-free for six months.

Another six-week session will start the third Thursday in November to coincide with The Great American Smokeout.

“The Wellness Council has been a wonderful tool and has always been there for the support and training that we need,” Trimble said. “It’s hard to have a program and try to create the forms and materials. When that stuff is already prepared, it makes it easier on the human resources professionals.”

Yeah, cigarrette butts on the sidewalk are "yucky", but not nearly as yucky (and hazardous) as the vomit and broken beer bottles all over the streets and sidewalks of Morgantown.

Drunk drivers who kill people should get the death penalty, too.

My mom is in the end stage of COPD.To watch her die trying to breath is so sad and worries me each day.If the info. about smoking would have been available when she was young maybe she would not be dying and her life could be much better.As a nurse I observe the horrible effects of smoking. I hate the smell of smoking and my allergies increase to the point that my eyes swell,I sneeze,and I can't catch my breath.Yes there are many health issues that need addressed but to deny the ills of cigarettes and second hand smoke is ignorant and undeniable !!! I cannot drive down the road without observing a smoker flick their cigarettes out their car window .An innocent walk down the street is polluted with smokers flicking their dirty cigarette butts to the ground ,yuck! That is not only littering but it is being disrespectful to your community and its citizens.Not to mention all the West Virginians that are receiving some aspect of public assistance but still find enough cash to fund a very expensive habit.Oh but the best part is,the taxpayers and other members of the insurance group get to pay for the smokers bad habit and poor choices .What is wrong with this picture??

I work for a large corporation that has been paying for smoking cessation programs for about 5 years now with great success but there are still a small percentage of employees that I believe are just not able to beat the incredibly addictive nature of nicotine.

In previous years everyone’s health insurance cost was the same but last year each employee had to declare themselves as a smoker or non-smoker and the smokers paid a higher insurance cost. Lying about your status as a smoker could result in termination and insurance fraud.

What I think we need to do is : 1. Treat this like you would an alcolholic, 2. Do a dry out period of at least 14 days. (Isolation) 3. No contact with anyone that smokes. 4. Zero tolerance - No smoking - even in the cars in the parking lot. I know that I could quit if I wasn't around any smoke & I can't get anywhere to get some.

Employers need to make their workers quit drinking, too. More people die on the roads frpm drinking and driving than they do cigarrette smoking. Just look at that drunk teacher in Morgantown! What kind of example are you giving our kids when you point that smoking is evil, but getting drunk and stupid on the job is not? People are dying from ailments from drinking, but the alcohol industry here makes too much money, so they lie and blame smoking! How many drunks killing innocents will it take? Yeah, that's right, tell our kids not to smoke, but teach them to get drunk and take their clothes off in public (girls!) and wreak havoc all over town and drive drunk! PUT THAT ON YOUR RESUME MORGANTOWN!