Lee Memorial helping employees kick the habit
About 300 healthcare workers trying to quit smoking
BY MICHELLE L. START Florida Weekly Correspondent

Some 90 Lee Memorial Health System employees started the 2008 as non-smokers, thanks to a program being offered by the system.

The program was rolled out in April, but not widely promoted until November.

Officials decided to launch the program after the board of directors nearly voted to make all campuses smoke-free.

"The administration decided to do something to help the employees to stop smoking," said pharmacist Mark Collum. "We have decided to (pay for) a number of products, including Chantix or Zyban (both prescription medications designed to help smokers quit more easily), patches and gum."

All employees and their spouses, if covered by the hospital's health plan, are allocated $500 toward these products.

"Chantix has been the most popular option," Collum said. "At three months, we were seeing a 50 percent success rate. We have confirmed that 90 people have been able to stop in 12 weeks."

Some 300 employees of the system's 9,000 employees are currently enrolled in the program, taking Chantix, according to Jean Carroll, systems director of health advocacy. The drug alone is costing the health system some $70,000.

Carroll said despite the upfront cost, overall the program will save LMHS money.

"A typical person with no major health problems has two additional doctors visits a year," said Carroll. "We figure we will save $500 a year on each person who has no problems."

She said the savings will be even greater on those employees who do have health problems.

For 1997-2001, cigarette smoking was estimated to be responsible for $167 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States ($75 billion in direct medical costs, and $92 billion in lost productivity), or about $3,561 per adult smoker, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said counseling smokers to quit is ranked as one of the most cost effective and clinically preventable burdens of disease and injury, second only to vaccinating children.

An estimated, 21 percent of all adults (45.3 million people) smoke cigarettes in the United States. Cigarette smoking estimates by age are as follows:

18-24 years (24 percent), 25-44 years (24 percent), 45-64 years (22 percent), and 65 years or older (10 percent), according to the CDC.

Carroll said she doesn't believe there are 1,890 smokers at LMHS, but figures the number is closer to 1,000. She said there is no way to tell for certain.

"I myself quit," she said. "I quit five months ago. I was smoking 2 1/2 packs a day. That's a big accomplishment. I really want it less and less now. It's not really a craving any more. It's more of a remembrance."