Politics & Government

Join the Northborough Ex-Smokers Hall of Fame

The town joins a cessation and prevention initiative.

Information courtesy of the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program

Northborough residents have a chance to get themselves into the hall of fame. Well, smokers do. And get healthy, save money, and probably years of their lives while doing so. The town has joined the The Ex-Smokers’ Hall of Fame sponsored by the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.

Although tobacco use has declined in the United States 19.3 percent or 45.3 million (men: 21.5 percent, Women: 17.3 percent) of the adult population continues to smoke and use other tobacco products. Among people with behavioral health disorders, about 50 percent smoke. Tobacco use is the single
most preventable cause of death in the US.

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Quitting smoking can be hard. Finding ways to help smokers quit is both a unique challenge and opportunity for public health practitioners. Practitioners know that evidenced based research shows that the use of counseling support andnquit smoking medications together can make it twice as likely that someone will quit.

The Ex-Smokers’ Hall of Fame is a program sponsored by the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program. Quitting smoking can be hard but there are ways to make it easier.

Having a role model can help someone to make a successful quit attempt. The goal of this project is to share the stories of individuals who have successfully quit smoking, in order to highlight and celebrate their success and to provide motivation for those still struggling to quit.The Ex-Smoker’s Hall of Fame is designed to help current smokers quit to by championing ex-smokers. They provide encouragement to smokers who are thinking about quitting.

Many ex-smokers from Massachusetts are now in the Ex-Smokers’ hall of Fame. Each one of them has a unique story to tell.

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Each display board that will be set up at the Northborough Town Hall and Library shares the "quit stories" of a resident in the Worcester area who works at either the UMass Medical Health Care Organizations or UMass Medical School. It also includes their photograph.

In the spring, there will be a display board of the Northborough residents who have joined the Hall of Fame, as well as a celebration event.

Now is a wonderful time of year to give back to the community. Share your story of how you quit smoking and inspire others to do the same. Who knows, you might just save someone’s life.

The Central MA Tobacco-Free Community Partnership is recruiting ex-smokers who either work or are residents of the Town of Northborough to share their quit story. Quitting smoking is hard. Learning from your experience can help!

The Partnership would like to know:

• What was your motivation to quit?
• What goals did you set?
• What support did you have?
• What did you do with them money you saved?

If you are willing to share your story and want to learn more about this initiative to help others quit smoking, contact Tina.Grosowsky@umassmed.edu or 508-856-5067.


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