The Cleveland Department of Public Health will soon be offering smoking cessation classes for residents who want to quit.
An estimated 35 percent of Cleveland adults smoke, which is three times the national average. Smoking can cause cancer and heart disease, which are the top two causes of death in the United States.
Katrese Miner, director of community initiatives for the health department, said the goal of the health department's community smoking cessation program is to reach residents who are not connected to the city's health care system.
“We know that people connected to our area hospitals and health systems use their services to help them quit smoking. [smoking]” Minor said. “We also know that there are many people who are not connected to these systems and there are gaps in programs for people who want to quit and need care and support.”
Miner said several health department employees and Cleveland Hospital employees were trained to become certified facilitators through the American Lung Association's smoking cessation course. This course educates facilitators on evidence-based strategies and trains them to lead group smoking cessation classes. The training was paid for by Case Western Reserve University.
Since taking these classes, Minor said, several health department staff members have worked with partner agencies to pilot the program at various community facilities across the city, including It includes University Hospital's Grenville Wellness Center, which has begun offering eight group counseling tobacco prevention sessions over seven sessions. Weeks starting in January.
“Instead of building classes and programs and getting people to come, we get people interested, seek us out, and share with us what they want to get out of our classes. We're going to ask them to do it,” Miner said.
The plan is to begin rolling out classes in June. Miner said class sizes will be limited. Residents interested in more information should fill out an interest form.
