Newfoundland & Labrador’s History in Tobacco Control
The Lung Association is one of Canada’s oldest voluntary not-for-profit health promotion organizations. The Lung Association of Newfoundland & Labrador was established in 1944 to control the spread of Tuberculosis. Today the mission of the Lung Association is to prevent and control all lung diseases. The Association is well recognized throughout the province for its leadership and expertise in the area of tobacco control and health. For over four decades, (since mid-1960’s) the Lung Association has been involved in such anti-smoking initiatives as cessation, prevention, protection, denormalization and advocacy. Their most well-known and successful program in cessation is the Smokers’ Helpline.
In the 1960's, over 60% of the people in Newfoundland & Labrador smoked. Today, in 2005 that figure has dropped to 21%.
History of the Smokers' Helpline
In 1998 the Lung Association conducted a needs assessment to determine if a quitline would be a beneficial service for Newfoundland & Labrador. Having heard about quitlines through internationals contacts, the Lung Association teamed with Dr. Sharon Buehler, a researcher at Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador to identify the need for smoking cessation support. This assessment did in fact determine Newfoundland & Labrador needed additional services for smoking cessation; thus, in 1999, the Executive Director of the Lung Association, met with quitline providers from California and Quebec, and then built their own quitline service funded through the Lung Association.
In October of 1999, Quebec's cardiac specialist and consultant in Smoking Cessation, Lise Giguere, visited Newfoundland to train six counsellors in smoking cessation for the launch of the Newfoundland & Labrador Smokers' Helpline.
The Newfoundland & Labrador’s Smokers' Helpline (SHL) was first launched on January 1, 2000. At that time, the sole purpose of the SHL was to help smokers quit. However, after a short time of being available to the community, the need to act as a hub of information and support to both smokers and non-smokers around tobacco control issues was evident.
The SHL is designed to help would-be quitters progress through the stages of change identified in the transtheoretical model of smoking cessation (i.e., pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance). Counsellors provide follow-up support (proactive counselling) to clients, whereby a counsellor will provide six counselling calls to help the individual set, achieve, and maintain their goals towards quitting.
In November of 2002, the Smokers Helpline entered a pilot project with Health Canada to test quitlines in Canada. Health Canada's funding allowed the provincial Smokers’ Helpline to expand its hours of operation, hire additional counsellors and staff, and work on a variety of tobacco control programs and services. The Smokers' Helpline offers a more comprehensive and integrated approach to tobacco control where the Helpline acts as a hub or point of entry for to a variety of services and programs for both smokers and non-smokers. The Helpline is also very dedicated to working with community partners in the area of tobacco control and wellness. There is a long list of partners who endorse and work with the Smokers’ Helpline to ensure the people of Newfoundland & Labrador live longer and healthier free from tobacco.
