WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center offers tobacco cessation help

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. – Smoking remains the single largest cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, according to the 2014 Surgeon General’s Report, “The Health Consequences of Smoking — 50 Years of Progress.” West Virginia has the second highest rate of smoking in the nation at 29.9 percent of adults.

If you are a tobacco user and need help quitting, Kristi Kimble, regional tobacco prevention coordinator, will be in the main lobby of WVU Medicine Berkeley Medical Center from 1-4 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28. She will have information on tobacco cessation, including smoking and spit/chew tobacco.

The scientific evidence is clear: inhaling tobacco smoke, particularly from cigarettes, is deadly. Since the first Surgeon General’s Report in 1964, evidence has linked smoking to diseases of nearly all organs of the body. The new report finds that smoking causes even more physical and financial damage than previously estimated, killing 480,000 Americans a year from diseases that include diabetes, colorectal cancer, and liver cancer.

For more information on available smoking cessation assistance, contact Kimble at WVDHHR Division of Tobacco Prevention, Kristi.p.kimble@gmail.com or 410-440-3055.