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Press Release Archive (2013)

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LGH Recognized by Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Hospital honored for participation in QuitWorks Smoking Cessation Program

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program (MTCP) are proud to recognize Lowell General Hospital for their participation in QuitWorks. QuitWorks is a free stop-smoking service available to health care providers that helps Massachusetts smokers receive the counseling and support necessary to help them quit.

"We know that people are looking for help quitting, and that 77% of smokers in Massachusetts want to quit," said Dr. Lois Keithly, Director of the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program. "Smokers who use counseling, including the type of phone counseling QuitWorks offers, are twice as likely to quit smoking for good, QuitWorks is a valuable tool for busy health care providers to help their patients quit smoking."

Members of the Respiratory Therapy Department as well as the Center for Community Health and Wellness at Lowell General Hospital were recognized this afternoon by members of MTCP and local community partners for their work in referring more than 244 patients to the QuitWorks program. The Hospital has participated in QuitWorks since July 2004.

"Providing assistance with smoking cessation can improve our patients' overall health and wellness," says Amy Hoey, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient services at Lowell General Hospital. "Evidence shows that receiving a clinician's advice to quit greatly improves a patient's success in abstaining from smoking. As healthcare providers, we can make a difference by helping someone to start that positive change."

To help reduce the rates of tobacco use in the community, Lowell General Hospital participates in the QuitWorks program and other initiatives.

QuitWorks, a program of the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program, is supported by seven Massachusetts commercial and Medicaid health plans and counts over 1,650 providers, 50 health centers, and 40 hospitals as partners. Any provider in Massachusetts can use the program with any patient, regardless of health insurance status, by using a simple enrollment form available on www.quitworks.org.

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