East Stroudsburg, PA – For the past 37 years, the American Cancer Society has designated a special day in November as the Great American Smoke-Out. The initiative is to encourage smokers to use that day to start a quit plan or to begin the plan prior to the date and quit on the actual date. This year’s date for the Great American Smoke Out is Thursday, November 15.
In support of the Great American Smoke-Out, Pocono Medical Center (PMC) and East Stroudsburg University are partnering to host a workshop entitled “Not Me!”. The event is on Thursday, November 15 at the Warren and Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center on the East Stroudsburg University Campus. The workshop is free to the community and is designed to educate individuals on the current rates of tobacco in the community and demonstrate how the tobacco companies are marketing to children. The event then will culminate in a special keynote address by Christine Brader of the Oral Cancer Foundation. In service to the community, Pocono Medical Center’s Dale and Frances Hughes Cancer Center will also offer a free oral cancer screening on November 19 at 6:00 pm.
“As a 3 time oral cancer survivor, I would like to educate the public on the dangers of smoking. I am very lucky to be here as smoking almost cost me my life. I hope to help the public understand how dangerous smoking can be. For every person who dies from smoking, there are 20 more people who live difficult lives struggling with the medical problems smoking has caused. I am now disfigured due to my smoking. I would hate to see anyone else go through what I have. There is help for smokers and I hope to pass along some info to help encourage them to become tobacco free,” says Christine Brader.
To register for the Great American Smoke-Out event, please call 570-426-2305. To register for the oral cancer screening, please call 570-476-3750. Through support from Tobacco Free Northeast, PMC offers smoking cessation support and nicotine replacement therapies to the community at no charge. Individuals who are interested in PMC’s smoking cessation program can call 570-476-3680 for more information.
