A Message from Dr. Richard Daines, New York State Commissioner of Health

 

Dear Colleagues,

Every year in New York 25,500 New Yorkers die from smoking-related diseases and every year in New York, 570,000 New Yorkers suffer from serious smoking caused diseases like lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema. Every year in New York we pay $8.2 billion dollars for medical care for smoking caused diseases.

All of this is avoidable. All of this suffering and disease and death and health care costs are completely avoidable and unnecessary. Tobacco use, and smoking in particular, is the leading preventable cause of death in New York and in the US.

We’ve taken a number of steps toward a tobacco free society here in New York and as we strive to reach our goal of one million fewer smokers in New York in 2010, we need the health care community to redouble your efforts to deliver effective treatment to all your patients who use tobacco.

Here’s what we know about smoking: Most smokers want to quit. Every year about half of smokers try to quit. But hardly any succeed in quitting for any length of time. Why? Because smokers are not getting the help they need. Most smokers are in the health care system. About 70 percent have seen a health care provider in the past year. And yet, even in the health care system, smokers are not getting the help they need to quit successfully.

With this advertising campaign, which is directed to clinicians, not to smokers, we challenge physicians and other providers throughout New York to take time at every office visit to talk to your patients who smoke and provide the assistance that we know works to help them successfully quit.

Physicians spend a lot of time treating the health problems caused by smoking. If we did a better job of helping our patients who want to quit and motivating those who aren’t ready to try, we could save thousands of lives and alleviate a great deal of suffering.  Yet too many clinicians in our state are silent about smoking.

The message this campaign is delivering to physicians and other clinicians is clear: "Don’t be Silent About Smoking." Effective treatment for tobacco dependence is available and every patient who smokes should be offered effective treatment. "This is your greatest opportunity to save lives."

Sincerely,

 

Richard F. Daines, M.D.

New York State Commissioner of Health