Seminar sheds light on smoking in state
Last year, more people died from tobacco usage than covid-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the covid-19 pandemic caused approximately 375,000 deaths in the United States in 2020.
The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas (CTFA) held a Zoom seminar Thursday in support of the nation’s Great American Smokeout Day 2021.
While about 400,000 people die from smoking each year, approximately 50,000 more are believed to die from secondhand smoke.
“It’s a preventable death,” said speaker Kim Jones Sneed, journalist and Pine Bluff Wellness and Health Equity Coalition founding member.
Katherine Donald, executive director for the coalition, is the Smokeout program’s organizer.
“The annual day of observance is an opportunity to shed light on smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. and highlight its many adverse health and economic implications,” Donald said.
It’s considered the cause of one in five deaths in the U.S.
“Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined,” the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids said.
It was reported that in May 2021, about 20.2% of Arkansas adults smoke, compared with the national average of about 14%. Each year across the state, about 5,800 adults die, Donald said.
The number of Arkansas tobacco users is dwindling slowly, Donald said. According to the CDC, the tobacco usage rate in Arkansas was about 49.6% in 1919.
KICK THE HABIT
“Life expectancy for smokers (including Arkansans) is at least 10 years shorter than non-smokers,” Donald said.
The webinar’s goal was for smokers, vapers, premium cigar users, and other types of tobacco users across Arkansas to join with millions of others around the country to make a pledge to quit for, at least, one-day, with hope the pledge would inspire a journey toward a smoke-free life.
“Quitting before age 40 reduces the risk of dying from smoking-related diseases by about 90%,” Donald said.
However, no matter the age, the sooner a smoker quits, the sooner their body can start the recovery process, and within 20 minutes after the last cigarette, a smoker’s heart rate and blood pressure drops.
In 12 hours, the carbon monoxide level in a smoker’s blood drops to normal.
“The most important step is the first step,” Donald said.
IT’S MORE THAN A SMOKE
The main speaker, Pebbles Fagan, professor and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco at the Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, talked about the socioeconomic and racial impacts of smoking.
Fagan is a researcher with 25 years of experience. She advocated taking a social justice approach to better understand the problem and then address the underlying causes of tobacco usage, and the banning of menthol flavored cigarettes.
“It’s marketed to African-American communities,” she said.
Also, she said the medical and other institutions working on reducing or eliminating the use, need to create “a no judgment zone. We need to help them on their journey.”
Ricky Lattimore, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church at Dermott, opened up about his cigar habit.
“I’m a different kind of smoker,” he said.
After a friend and fellow cigar smoker said he had quit because of his headaches, Lattimore said he was considering giving up his two- to three-times-aweek habit for the same reason.
Sherri Reeves of Jackson, Miss., educator and wife of Coach Willie Reeves, talked about her husband’s lifelong battle with smoking and how it impacted the family. Along with grieving his 2017 death, she and some of her children struggled with breathing issues for a time.
Reeves encouraged health professionals to educate tobacco users with “the tools needed to reduce daily life’s stresses. … Teach them the techniques to help them cope.”
District 29 Rep. Fredrick Love brought greetings on behalf of the Arkansas Legislature while Hayse Miller, CTFA board member, read Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s Great Smoke Out proclamation.
The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Arkansas was founded in 1992 and is a network of statewide organizations with a shared mission of improving “the health of Arkansans by waging a grassroots campaign to increase public awareness of the negative effects of tobacco use,” Donald said.
For more information about the coalition, visit www.arfreshair.com or for help quitting tobacco, call the National Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW or contact the Arkansas Department of Health, Be Well Arkansas Program.