In 2007, Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-COM) established its Tobacco Training and Cessation Program, which is coordinated through the college’s Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program.
To assist in the tobacco-cessation effort, the NSU-COM AHEC Program is responsible for accomplishing a two-pronged goal. First, it must provide the training and other support services that Florida’s health care professionals and delivery systems require to effectively work with tobacco-dependent patients in the clinical setting. Second, it must offer free and high-quality live group tobacco-cessation support classes, which are run by well-trained AHEC tobacco-treatment facilitators, available in every community in the state, along with free nicotine replacement therapy for participants.
The program relies on an extensive network of academic and community-based partnerships in each county and community throughout its vast service area to assure that AHEC staff members and other resources are being effectively shared, leveraged, and utilized to address local, regional, and statewide needs.
As a key component of the Department of Health’s Tobacco Free Florida program, the program also provides highly effective, in-person cessation programs for tobacco users. In addition to the AHEC’s community-based group programs, Tobacco Free Florida offers phone counseling through the Florida Quitline and an online web coach for tobacco users who prefer to quit on their own. Best of all, these services are offered at no cost to all Floridians.
Since its establishment, the NSU-COM AHEC Tobacco Training and Cessation Program has produced enviable results, which is exampled by the fact that approximately 35,000 people have attended the cessation programs held in countless communities throughout the program’s service area. “To our knowledge, these efforts are unique to Florida, as no other state appears to have such a robust statewide program of tobacco training for both current and future health professionals,” Zucker added.
