Smoking Cessation Services

Image of a mother and a daughter looking at each other and smiling

Why choose Ochsner for tobacco cessation services?

From damaging your health to monopolizing your time and hurting your budget, tobacco use holds you back in so many ways. Ochsner Health can help you move forward with tobacco cessation services from locations conveniently located throughout Louisiana in New Orleans, Metairie, Gretna, Kenner, Houma, Laplace, Slidell, Covington, Hammond, Baton Rouge and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

No matter your age or how long you’ve smoked, vaped or dipped/used smokeless tobacco, you can quit, and your health will benefit. The Ochsner Tobacco Cessation Program has an excellent track record of helping people kick the habit. About 30% of our patients quit within a year, which is more than triple the national average. We offer free tobacco cessation counseling from certified tobacco treatment specialists. Our experts will help you find an effective combination of treatments, which may be covered for free or at a reduced cost.

Quitting smoking, dipping or vaping is hard, but it’s even more difficult alone. With help and support, however, your chances of successfully quitting increase. By deciding you want to make an important change for your health, you’ve taken a big step toward quitting. Now, let our certified smoking cessation service providers help you reach your goal.

What are the benefits of quitting smoking?

When you quit smoking, your body responds almost immediately. Within minutes, your heart rate and blood pressure decrease. Over time, you’ll experience many more health benefits, including:

Better lung function
Improved circulation
Less coughing and shortness of breath
Lower risks of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and many types of cancer, including lung cancer

Who’s eligible for tobacco cessation services at Ochsner?

You may qualify for our free Tobacco Cessation Program if you are:

A Louisiana or Mississippi resident
At least 18 years old
Interested in products to help you quit tobacco
Ready to quit tobacco smoking, dipping or vaping

Learn how to quit smoking from our certified tobacco treatment specialists

In our Tobacco Cessation Program, you’ll work with a certified tobacco treatment specialist who’s overseen by a physician. Our certified tobacco treatment specialists come from a variety of clinical backgrounds, including respiratory therapy, social work and nursing. To become certified to work with patients who wish to quit tobacco, these specialists completed an intensive, weeklong program, 240 hours of clinical work and passed a national exam.

Our certified tobacco treatment specialists are passionate about working with patients who want to quit smoking because, in most cases, they know what they’re going through.

What chronic health conditions are linked to smoking?

Why is quitting smoking key to your health and future? Smoking tobacco is responsible for more preventable deaths in the United States than any other cause. Smoking can have head-to-toe health effects and increase your risk for a variety of serious conditions, including:

Age-related macular degeneration
Aortic aneurysm
Cancers of the bladder, cervix, colon and rectum, esophagus, kidneys, liver, lungs, mouth and more
Cataracts
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Coronary artery disease
Fertility issues
Gum disease
Heart attack
High blood pressure
Peripheral vascular disease
Pneumonia
Rheumatoid arthritis
Stroke
Type 2 diabetes

What tobacco cessation treatments are offered at Ochsner?

The Tobacco Cessation Program is an outpatient program, which makes it convenient for busy people to attend weekly meetings. The program begins with a one-hour visit with a certified tobacco treatment specialist. You’ll tell the specialist about your history with tobacco use, and he or she will determine the best treatment for you.

We use seven medications in our program, including varenicline, which is also known by its brand name, Chantix^®. In most cases, treatment begins with combination therapy. This may include a nicotine patch and an antidepressant, or a nicotine patch and a nicotine gum or lozenge. If combination therapy is not effective, we may prescribe varenicline. Our smoking cessation services work closely with Ochsner pharmacies to help patients obtain the medications they need.

As part of treatment, you’ll attend six weekly therapy sessions. These may be individual or group sessions, and they may take place in person or by phone. A certified tobacco treatment specialist will lead discussions on understanding urges to smoke, weight gain, what to expect after quitting and other smoking-related topics.

Around four or five weeks after starting the program, you’ll set a quit date. We’ll continue offering support with phone calls while you’re taking medication and at three, six and 12 months after you started the program. If you experience a relapse, think of it as a momentary setback, not a failure. Relapses are common, and we’ll encourage you to try again. Like many people, you may have to attempt to quit smoking several times before you’re successful. We’re here to help and support you every step of the way.

FAQs

The answer to this question varies from person to person. Not everyone will need to try more than once to quit, but many people do have to make multiple attempts. Experts disagree on the average number of attempts it takes to quit smoking, but smokers may try to quit an average eight to 12 times before succeeding.

Absolutely not. Our program is meant to help people who currently smoke kick the habit. We want to help you quit gradually, in a step-down method. You do not need to try to quit cold turkey before starting our program.

Yes. This medication is available at no cost to patients who would benefit from this type of treatment.

The program is focused on teaching you to develop behavioral tools that can help you quit smoking.

Vaping has become a popular alternative to smoking tobacco, but vaping is harmful to your health, too. Research shows that vaping contains higher percentages of nicotine than the traditional cigarette. In fact, the strongest cigarettes contain approximately 2% nicotine, but some brands of vapes contain nicotine percentages that range from 3%–5% nicotine.

Additionally, most vapes contain either vegetable glycerin or propylene glycol or a combination of the two to make the vape juices, and both chemicals can lead to lung inflammation and respiratory problems. Many of the chemicals found in vaping products are food grade, but that does not mean they are safe to inhale. Our stomachs have acids to process these chemicals; our lungs do not.