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The INDEPENDENT, January 6, 2005_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nicotine patch pilot project
comes to successful completion
Oregon’s pilot project to help
tobacco users quit by providing
a starter kit of two weeks worth
of free nicotine patches has
come to a successful comple
tion, officials in the Oregon De
partment of Human Services’
Tobacco Prevention and Edu
cation Program said today.
The pilot project, launched
on October 5, was one of the
first of its kind in the nation. It
was originally scheduled to run
until June, but demand quickly
exceeded supplies.
“Since the October launch,
the Oregon Tobacco Quit Line
has received more than 10,000
calls, 20 times its normal vol
ume,” said Mel Kohn, M.D.,
state epidemiologist at DHS.
“DHS was able to assist about
6,000 tobacco users and dis
tribute more than 56,000 patch
es.
Kohn said the response to
the patch giveaway shows
most Oregonians who use to
bacco want to quit and that
they need more assistance to
succeed. He added that the
next step is to track and evalu
ate the results of the pilot proj
ect to determine how many
people successfully quit using
tobacco through nicotine re
placement therapy. An evalua
tion report is scheduled for re
lease spring 2005.
“We are excited by the initial
response because quitting
saves lives and money,” said
Kohn.
Medical experts say nicotine
replacement therapy, such as
the patch, can greatly increase
the probability that a smoker or
chewer will quit. Patches grad
ually reduce the amount of
nicotine in the blood stream to
help people successfully stop
nicotine addiction.
The pilot project, funded with
voter-approved tobacco taxes,
provided tobacco users with
two weeks of free nicotine
patches. Health care insurers
were encouraged to provide
the remaining six-weeks of
patches needed for the eight
week treatment period. Several
public/private partnerships with
health insurers were developed
through the project.
“Providence Health System,
PacifiCare and three of the
health plans serving Oregon
Health Plan clients, in particu
lar, really stepped up to the
plate and made it easier for
their members to obtain nico
tine patches,” said Kohn.
Providing cessation support
is more cost-effective than pay
ing for the treatment of tobac
co-related disease, according
to Kohn. Yet, about 350,000
Oregon smokers do not have
cessation benefits covered in
their health plans.
Tobacco use costs Oregoni
ans about $1.8 billion a year in
direct costs of medical care
and indirect costs due to ill
ness, disability and death.
While nicotine replacement
patches are no longer free to all
callers, they will be made avail
able to uninsured Oregonians
for a limited time, as well as to
people on some insurance
plans. Quit Line personnel will
help callers find out if they are
still eligible.
The toll-free Oregon Tobac
co Quit line provides free serv
ice to all Oregonians. To talk to
a cessation counselor, call 1-
877-270-7867. Cessation spe
cialists are available seven
days a week from 5:00 a.m. to
9:00 p.m.
Reminder: Antibiotics won’t help colds
You feel lousy...you’ve got a
sore throat, a runny nose, wa
tery eyes and aching muscles.
You also have a million things
to do and all you want is some
thing to knock this illness out.
So you go to your doctor to get
an antibiotic. But, after the ex
amination, the doctor says that
you don’t need an antibiotic,
you’ve got a bad cold and colds
are caused by viruses.
Here’s the kicker: There’s
nothing yet known to science
that can knock out a cold virus.
So what does the doctor pre
scribe? Some herbal tea, a big
box of tissues, and a few more
days to recover.
Many of us know are familiar
with that experience. We go to
the doctor for something that
will help us feel better, and get
a dose of frustrating advice.
But the truth is that giving
antibiotics for a viral cold is not
only useless (you’ll recover in
the same amount of time
whether or not you take antibi
otics), it is potentially danger
ous and expensive.
Health researchers estimate
that half of all antibiotics pre
scribed in the United States are
used to “treat” conditions that
don’t require them. Beside
spending money unnecessarily,
prescribing unneeded antibi
otics is dangerous in several
ways.
All antibiotics can cause side
effects. Some can upset stom
achs or cause diarrhea. Wo
men who take antibiotics are
prone to developing vaginal
yeast infections, and all antibi
otics can cause allergic rashes
(or worse) in sensitive individu
als. If an antibiotic is truly need
ed —to treat strep throat or
pneumonia, for example—then
the benefits clearly outweigh
the risks of these side effects.
A more dangerous aspect of
taking unnecessary antibiotics
is the emerging problem of bac
terial drug resistance.
Our bodies are full of billions
of bacteria - on our skin, in our
mouths, and throughout our
stomach and intestines. Most
of these bacteria are harmless,
but a few among the billions
are potentially harmful. Under
normal circumstances, the
harmless bacteria tend to keep
the harmful ones in check. But
all bacteria have potential to
develop genetic mutations that
can make them resistant to an
tibiotics.
Consider this situation: A
person with a small number of
harmful,
antibiotic-resistant
bacteria takes an antibiotic that
kills enough harmless bacteria
that the harmful ones begin to
reproduce unchecked and
cause a big problem. This is not
mere speculation.
A few years ago, an epidem
ic of severe intestinal infections
among children in the Midwest
was traced to contaminated
hamburger meat served at a
fast-food chain. When health
researchers looked closely at
the epidemic they found that
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the children with the worst cas
es had received antibiotics for
other reasons before they ate
the contaminated meat. The re
searchers speculated that an
tibiotics had killed off enough
harmless bacteria so that bac
teria from the contaminated
meat meat no resistance. Chil
dren who hadn’t taken antibi
otics were mostly spared seri
ous infections.
Even more disturbing was
that, when researchers exam
ined the medical records of the
sick children, they found that
many of the children hadn’t
needed antibiotics in the first
place.
Already there are strains of
tuberculosis, staphylococcus,
gonorrhea, and many other in
fectious bacteria in all parts of
the world that are resistant to
antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus
aureus
(MRSA) has been a problem in
hospitals and nursing homes
for many years. Antibiotics are
marvelous; they can be life-
savers. But we need to use
them wisely and only when
they’re really needed.
To learn more about bacteri
al drug resistance and the wise
use of antibiotics, go to the
website for the Centers for Dis
ease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Evening chats
offer information
Arthroscopic rotator cuff re
pair will be the topic for discus
sion January 12, 6-7:30 p.m.,
by orthopedic specialist Brooke
Benz, M.D. The use of arthro
scopic techniques is changing
both perceptions and treatment
of shoulder pain and other
problems. Shoulder arthros
copy uses three small holes to
peer into the shoulder.
January 19, 6-7:30 p.m., the
topic will be oral cancer. Kae
Cheng, D.M.D., M.D., will dis
cuss how to recognize oral
cancer, early detection, and its
management. Oral rehabilita
tion and reconstruction with
prosthesis and dental implants
will also be introduced.
These free, no registration
required, talks are presented
by Tuality Healthcare and held
at the Tuality Health Education
Center at 334 SE Eighth Av
enue, Hillsboro. For more infor
mation, call 503-681-1700 or
visit <www.tuality.org>.