The Tennessee Department of Health joins partners in the Statewide Tobacco-Free Coalition in celebrating Tennessee Quit Week Feb. 13-17, 2017. The theme for the week-long campaign is "It's Quittin' Time in Tennessee" to celebrate Tennesseans who have quit using tobacco products and inspire more people to join them.

TDH Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH will join former U.S. Senator Bill Frist, MD, founder and chairman of NashvilleHealth and Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness CEO Richard Johnson Tuesday, Feb. 14 at the Tennessee State Capitol to celebrate Tennessee Quit Week and discuss opportunities for citizens, government, business and non-profit leaders to partner in reducing tobacco use in Tennessee. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Old Supreme Court Chamber and is open to the public.

"The impacts of tobacco use in Tennessee go beyond the damage done to the health, quality of life and incomes of those who choose to smoke," said Dreyzehner. "Tobacco use costs our state billions of dollars each year in lost productivity and health care costs, serious and preventable consequences that hurt the prosperity of our state and those who live and work here. We want to increase our partnerships across the public and private sectors to educate people on the harms of tobacco use and how we can work together to help people improve their health and their lives by beating nicotine addiction."

Tennessee Quit Week raises awareness of the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine and other free resources available to help Tennesseans quit smoking and/or using other tobacco products. These proven, effective services can double a tobacco user's chances of quitting.

Tennesseans who smoke and are ready to quit can call the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine, use a web-based program or attend in-person counseling services and may receive free FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapy. These services are provided at no charge to participants. Call the Tennessee Tobacco QuitLine at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) to talk with a counselor who will help you create a quit plan. For more information and resources or to enroll online, visit www.tnquitline.org.

Along with counseling, teamwork with health professionals is a proven way to help smokers quit for good. People who work with health care professionals to quit smoking are ultimately more successful in quitting tobacco use and report higher satisfaction with overall health care received compared to untreated tobacco users, according to the U.S. Public Health Service.
Smokers who quit can add up to 10 years to their life expectancy.

The Impact of Tobacco Use in Tennessee:

• Tobacco use claims at least 30 Tennessee lives every day.
• If current smoking rates continue, 125,000 TN children alive today who are younger than 18 years of age will die prematurely as a result of smoking.
• In 2009, $2.67 billion in annual health care costs in Tennessee were directly caused by smoking.

The TDH Statewide Tobacco-Free Coalition consists of key stakeholders and community partners from around the state whose purpose is to identify strengths, gaps and opportunities for tobacco control in Tennessee. Learn more about Tennessee Quit Week and resources available to help reduce tobacco use at www.tn.gov/health/topic/FHW-tobacco.