Breathing Easier
One of ChesPenn’s most important health education initiatives is our Smoking Cessation Program. ChesPenn Community Health Educator Tina Beahm recently sat down with patient John Cornin to talk about his success in overcoming his smoking addiction. John has been a patient at Upper Darby since we opened in 2009. Two and a half years ago, he expressed a desire to get help with his smoking and his physician referred him to Tina. Tina offered him a choice of nicotine replacement methods – gum, patches, or lozenges – and he found that the lozenges helped him most.
John had tried for years to quit smoking before working with Tina. Stressors that kept coming up in his life and the lack of support made it impossible. ChesPenn’s program takes advantage of the ability of the Community Health Educator to collaborate with the patient and the patient’s physician. This team approach is a powerful tool to help patients quit.
Tina described her approach to coaching patients as highly individualized. “I just talk to them as a person. I get to know them so every session is individualized because everyone has their own story, their own struggles, their own way of living. Getting to know John as a person helped us make a great working relationship and then it was all him. He was the one that did it.”
John also has wonderful motivation to stop. Like most patients, he shared that his sense of smell has changed, he feels “100% better” and he feels good about himself. But his family was his strongest inspiration. He quit so that he could be here to celebrate his granddaughter’s 17th birthday, his grandson’s 9th birthday, and hopefully many birthdays over the coming years as well. John has been smoke- free for over a year. He’s set the stage for many years of family celebrations.
