Learning Objectives: Identify best practices for the implementation of the American Cancer Society’s Living Well…Tobacco Free Program.
Abstract: Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of disability and death in the United States. Tobacco addiction also creates a huge economic burden, especially for businesses. More than $100 billion in health care costs and lost productivity are a direct result of tobacco use each year at the worksite.
The average New Jersey worker spends a majority of their waking hours in the workplace. In response, the American Cancer Society’s Living Well...Tobacco Free Program contains components that enable employers to promote healthier, more productive employees through user-friendly tools to enhance or implement cessation activities on-site, including incentives for quitting smoking. Living Well has the following components: Tobacco Education, Clearing The Air, Freshstart, Staying-Off-Smoking, and Resources.
Our preliminary results indicate that since Living Well displays flexibility in varying work environments, it is feasible in any organizational or business setting. For example, through American Cancer Society guidance, Monmouth County’s Riverview Medical Center became the first hospital in New Jersey to implement a 100% indoor and outdoor Smoke-free Policy. The preservation and protection of the health of their patients, visitors, and staff provided essential impetus for Riverview to change their Administrative Policy to a smoke-free environment that encourages cessation through well structured programs.
The American Cancer Society can help employers save money, boost productivity, and provide a healthier, smoke-free workplace environment through Living Well…Tobacco-Free. The Living Well Program will show employers how to protect the health of their employees, help smoking employees and their families break free of nicotine addiction, and develop policies and procedures that will support the entire process.
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Back to The 2002 National Conference on Tobacco or Health