Dr. Mark Roby, director of nursing for the Florida Department of Health in Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about stopping smoking.
Smoking continues to be the number one cause of preventable death in the country.
Dr. Roby said, “I think a lot of people we’re kind of past that push of non smoking campaigns from years ago, but it still remains a public health issue and a challenge. Quitting can be very hard, but it’s not impossible. I think everyone has their own journey of trying to quit, maybe multiple attempts, or maybe some people just aren’t ready to quit. Tobacco Free Florida has a host of services available to kind of meet people where they are in their journey to trying to quit their tobacco use.”
Those resources are available online at www.tobaccofreeflorida.com
Dr. Roby said, “There’s resources if you want to do what’s called web quit. So there’s resources on the web to help to help you quit. You can also do phone chats with people to provide support to help people on their journey to trying to quit. Then of course, there’s group quit as well if you want to join a group.”
The Department of Health offers two week starter kits.
Dr. Roby said, “Starter kits are nicotine replacement therapies, either chewing gum or patches. They are available at all three of our locations, Key West, Marathon and in Tavernier. So again, it’s just providing a local resource if people are interested, and want to get some information they can pop into the health department. We’ll also of course, recommend that they join one of the resources through Tobacco Free Florida to kind of augment the nicotine replacement therapy that they’re providing with some counseling therapy, and some support is basically what that is.”
AHEC is also involved.
Dr. Roby said, “We partner with them a lot. AHEC is a great partner in trying to help people quit smoking as well. You can go into any of the AHEC offices. They have resources online as well and then there’s also classes. They actually offer local in person classes for those that are interested.”
Is it ever too late to quit smoking?
Dr. Roby said, “No, it’s never too late. At any point if you quit, there will be health benefits, regardless of how long you smoked, or how much you’ve smoked.”
The Department of Health wants to hear from YOU in their well-being survey.
Dr. Roby said, “It’s for all Monroe County residents 18 years or older. We have a goal of collecting 1,000 surveys. We’re about halfway there. We of course, would like to collect as many as we possibly can. So this survey is available online, at our website. It’s right there front and center. The survey actually comes in three languages, English, Haitian Creole, and Spanish. It takes about five to seven minutes to complete. The purpose of the survey, one of our goals, we want to provide health services to improve the health of the county and the state. This is one of those ways we can gauge what is the health concerns of the people that live here. We want to get their input. So then that helps us determine what we need to focus our efforts on and what we need to prioritize as a department and really for the next five years. So this helps us with our strategic plan and our planning for the next five years to make sure that we’re providing the services that the community feels that they need. So in order to do that, we need their input.”
A community information event at Bernstein Park is happening today from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Dr. Roby said, “No doubt they will have copies of the survey there. We also have the QR code on your phone to link you right to it.”
There is help to stop smoking.
Dr. Roby said, “It’s never too late to quit. There’s resources out there available for you. We’re here to help, just reach out and we will help you wherever you are in your journey. If you’re just thinking about quitting or if you’ve quit a while ago, and you’re having some struggles, you can certainly reach out and we’re here to help.”
For more information, click here: https://monroe.floridahealth.gov/index.html