UCSF to Participate in World No Tobacco Day on May 31

The UCSF campus community is invited and encouraged to celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on Thursday, May 31, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at several UCSF sites.

UCSF is proud to participate in the World Health Organization’s global event.
 
This year’s goals are threefold: to help people quit smoking, increase awareness of health care providers in how to help people quit, and provide information about the World Health Organization’s theme “Tobacco Industry Interference.”
 
Information tables will be at various locations from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. with information about:

  • UCSF Smoking Cessation services
  • Inpatient services: Text page 443-QUIT for support by respiratory therapists specially trained in smoking cessation counseling
  • Outpatient: The Fontana Tobacco Treatment Center at Mount Zion offers group cessation classes. Call 885-7895.
  • Employee smoking cessation support. Call 885-7895

Also, please join us at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education (CTCRE) for a special WNTD webinar 9:30 – 11 a.m. with moderator Jodi Prochaska, PhD, UCSF associate professor, talking about “A Hidden Epidemic: Tobacco Use and Mental Illness.” The webinar will be in the CTCRE, 530 Parnassus Ave., Suite 366.
 
Research shows that people with mental illness smoke at rates nearly twice as high as the general population (41 percent vs. 22.5 percent, respectively) and nearly half of the cigarettes smoked in the United States are consumed by people with co-occurring psychiatric or addictive disorders. The smoking prevalence rates are even higher (60 percent to 80 percent) for those who are diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.
 
A panel discussion will address how public health experts can work with the mental health system to curb tobacco use among this population.
 
For more information about the WNTD event, please contact Karen Williams, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, at 476-4683 or [email protected].
 

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