Grant helps St. Luke’s provide tobacco cessation services

St. Luke's Health Care Foundation has been awarded a $30,000 charitable healthcare contribution from Pfizer Healthcare Charitables. This grant will assist St. Luke's Hospital in expanding services to reduce the number of tobacco users in eastern Iowa.

St. Luke's will work with community organizations to promote tobacco cessation services and support primary healthcare providers in helping patients quit tobacco. Through these efforts, our community will be more aware of available options to quit tobacco. Additionally, this grant will allow St. Luke's to continue consultations and education regarding tobacco cessation to patients admitted to the hospital.

Smoking and tobacco use has been identified as one of the seven biggest health problems in Linn County. According to the American Cancer Society, only four to seven percent of individuals are able to stop using tobacco when attempting to quit on their own, making comprehensive cessation services imperative in reducing the prevalence of tobacco use.

Since St. Luke's Tobacco Cessation Services formally began in November 2010, more than 200 patients have enrolled. Forty-seven percent of patients who have completed the program have self-reported to be tobacco free, well above the 11 to 18 percent who quit after completing other types of tobacco cessation programs, according to the Agency for HealthCare Research and Quality.

For more information about St. Luke's Tobacco Cessation Services, please call 319/558-4867 or visit www.stlukescr.org/tobacco-cessation-services.aspx.