The Mississippi Academy of Family Physicians Foundation chose the Longest Student Health Center at Mississippi State University to be one of the 10 sites to initiate the statewide Tobacco Cessation Office of Champions Pilot Project.
The tobacco cessation initiative is an effort to cut down tobacco consumption starting at medical centers across the state by implementing cessation techniques into daily office practice.
Joyce Yates, Director of Health Education and Wellness, said she thinks MSU is a prime location for the pilot project.
“We were chosen because they already know that we’re doing a lot with tobacco cessation. They know that through Dr. Robert Collins and our staff that we’re already addressing many of the tobacco problems, but since our target population is students, they look at this as an age that we really can make a difference with,” she said.
Some of the techniques the Health Center have already been practicing include support groups, a smoking quitline, nicotine patches and chewing gum and a doctor or physician consultation.
Juleigh Baker, health educator at the Health Center, heads one of the tobacco cessation support groups and thinks the small groups can lead to encouraging discussion.
“The smaller groups tend to interact a little bit more, and it helps the participants because they see there’s other people that are struggling with quitting tobacco, just like they are,” she said. “They share techniques that help them quit that someone may not have thought about. It just helps them feel like they’re not alone in their struggles to quit.”
Yates said 20 percent of MSU students smoke. She said she sees the pertinency of informing students the dangers of tobacco at a malleable age in their lives.
“The college-aged student is still at a time in their smoking lifestyle that they can change and have really positive health results from quitting now instead of seeing what happens over the long haul of many years,” Yates said.
In addition to the negative long-term effects of smoking on users, Lauren Haley, freshman biological science major, said she also sees the benefits of smokers quitting for the entire student body.
“I just hope that people will stop smoking on campus so that we don’t have to breathe their nasty air,” Haley said.
Yates said the main function of the tobacco pilot project through the Health Center is about enhancing and improving the health and well-being of students on campus.
“We’ve always been so concerned about the student in any kind of health habit that decreases quality of life for the student. We want the student to be successful and to be your best self, you need to be healthy,” she said.