When it comes to lung health, it pays to be a quitter!
Join St. Mary’s Airway Clinic for National Non-Smoking Week Awareness
While National Non-Smoking Week (NNSW) runs from Sunday, January 19 to 25, for your Hospitals, helping people quit smoking and preventing others from starting is a year-round affair.
As the Regional program leader for respiratory and thoracic care, St. Mary’s General Hospital offers specialized chest programs and services for patients who struggle to quit smoking. A healthy life begins with healthy lungs, and quitting smoking and vaping brings immediate and long-term benefits. “Within minutes after you stop smoking, your blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels will improve,” says Angie Shaw, Registered Respiratory Therapist at St. Mary’s Airway Clinic. “After one year of quitting, your risk of heart attack is cut in half. And after 10 to 15 years, your risk of having a heart attack is the same as someone who never smoked.”
St. Mary’s also works in partnership with the Waterloo-Wellington Regional Cancer Program at Grand River, providing rapid assessment and treatment of chest cancer. According to Cancer Care Ontario, “quitting smoking at the time of a cancer diagnosis could lower your risk of death by 30 to 40 per cent. It also lowers the chance of the cancer returning or another type of cancer developing.” To address the widespread challenge of smoking prevention, the Region of Waterloo also offers a variety of tools and resources, such as quit plans and nicotine replacement therapy, to empower individuals to quit smoking for good.
Quitting smoking can feel overwhelming, but help is available. The St. Mary’s Airway Clinic, located at Medical Centre 2 at 435 The Boardwalk, offers education, rehabilitation, diagnostic services, and community support for patients who are not admitted to the Hospital. For patients with a confirmed diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), the clinic also offers community-based programs to help empower patients to self-manage their disease.
To quit smoking successfully, it is important to tackle both the addiction to nicotine and smoking habits. The clinic provides quit specialists who offer personalized support through one-time group education sessions, available in person, virtually, or over the phone. They help create a quit plan tailored to your needs, review available products, and determine which products you qualify for. Nicotine replacement options, such as patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers, and sprays, can help with managing addiction.
The clinic is available for those who want to help prevent short and long-term health effects. For self-referrals, you can access the Airway Clinic directly by phone at 226-896-2026 or 226-896-2030 and by email at airwayclinic@smgh.ca. You can even have your family doctor or respirologist refer you by completing the Airway Clinic referral form. If you’re finding it hard to quit smoking, the clinic can help you take your first step.
Whether it’s you, a family member, or a friend, accessing the right programs and services at the right time can greatly improve your chances of quitting smoking and protecting your health, both today and in the future. So, when you’re ready to quit, the teams at St. Mary’s and Grand River are here to help.
Learn more about NNSW and the Airway Clinic:
Our team at the Airway Clinic shares what you need to know about vaping. See what Angie Shaw, Registered Respiratory Therapist has to say.
