BRATTLEBORO — Vermont tobacco users have a new resource to help them quit.
802Quits was launched on New Year's Day by the Vermont Department of Health. It provides advice, tips, tools, and information in order to help Vermonters quit smoking and using other harmful tobacco products.
Previously known as the Vermont Quit Network, 802Quits was developed to provide support and motivation in a useful and meaningful way to tobacco users statewide throughout their quitting journey.
802Quits offers Vermont tobacco users four ways to get help:
• Quit Help by Phone provides free, personalized support to people who call 800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).
• In-person Quit Help is available through the Vermont Quit Partners, a team of people in communities across the state devoted to providing support and motivation throughout the quitting process. Quit Classes are available to meet your schedule. For information on Quit Classes in Windham County, Vermont, contact Laura Schairbaum at 802-463-9927, ext. 213
• Online Quit Help delivers online support from a community of experts and former smokers.
• Quit Your Way provides tips, tools, and advice to help Vermonters quit on their own.
In addition to these four ways to get help, another key component of 802Quits is stories from real Vermonters about their own quitting process. The website 802Quits.org compiles stories from around the state focused on a variety of reasons people choose to quit tobacco, including for wellness, family, baby, money, illness and personal loss.
The launch of 802Quits coincides with the 50th anniversary on Jan. 11 of the first Surgeon General's report on the dangerous effects smoking has on health. The number of smokers in the United States has fallen significantly since the report was issued in 1964.
Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States, but about 95,000 Vermonters smoke cigarettes and 800 Vermonters die each year from tobacco-related diseases. In 2011, 55 percent of all Vermont smokers, totaling 53,000 people, attempted to quit.