Dear Editor,

June is Men’s Health Month and Father’s Day is this weekend. A great gift for your family this Father’s Day is to start living tobacco free. Smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable death and costs 11,100 Hoosier lives every year. Dads who smoke can celebrate Father’s Day by quitting, and family and friends can help support dads who are trying to quit.

There are many reasons why dads may want to quit smoking:

• Men are more likely to be current cigarette smokers than women
• The smoking rate for Hoosier men is 23.6%, which is higher than the U.S. adult men average of 17.5%
• Men who smoke increase their risk of dying from bronchitis by nearly 10 times; from emphysema by nearly 10 times; from lung cancer by more than 22 times; and their risk of dying from heart disease triples

Quit Now Indiana is a free phone-based counseling service that helps Hoosiers quit all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco. There is also a web-based counseling option (eQuitNow.com) and supplementary texting service, Text2Quit.

Services are available 24/7 so call 1-800-QuitNow today or visit QuitNowIndiana.com.

 Quitting smoking has numerous benefits, but perhaps the greatest of all is more time with family and loved ones on this Father’s Day weekend.

Jessica Camarena
Program Director
Breathe Well Coalition