New clinic can help smokers kick habit

     By Judy DeLoretta
     View staff writer
      If Dr. J. Francis Turner and Elizabeth Fildes have it their way, Southern Nevadans will soon have a better chance at giving up a nasty habit.
      "We're trying a kinder and gentler way to get people to quit smoking," said Fildes, director of the University of Nevada School of Medicine's stop-smoking clinic, which opened in October at 1707 W. Charleston Blvd. in Las Vegas. "We know that tobacco is the most addictive drug there is."
      The University of Nevada School of Medicine isn't new to helping people quit smoking.
      Fildes runs the Nevada Tobacco Users' Helpline, as well as weekly and monthly support groups.
      Turner, an associate professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, is working with Fildes in assessing patients.
      While the new clinic doesn't serve as a lung cancer screening facility, patients with concerns about their pulmonary health can come in for an assessment and for help in quitting smoking.
      The $250 cost includes one year of counseling support.
      The clinic will cooperate with patients' primary physicians. Such patients who are at risk for lung disease may be seen at the smoking cessation clinic.
      An assessment includes discussion, breathing tests and, if necessary, the School of Medicine's new LifeLung equipment.
      "My interest is lung cancer," Turner said. "There are 170,000 new cases diagnosed in the United States every year."
      Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in women, with an incident rate in 1995 of 42.6 per 100,000, according to an American Cancer Society report. Since 1987, more women have died each year of lung cancer than breast cancer, which, for more than 40 years, was the major cause of cancer death in women.
      "We'd like to see ourselves as the only smoking cessation clinic where clients are seen by a pulmonary doctor," Fildes said.
      Once the smoke-busting team of Fildes, Turner and registered respiratory therapist Sandie Harvey assesses a patient through exams, breathing tests and consultation, the list of options is discussed.
      These days, nicotine replacement products are available in nasal spray, inhaler, gum and patch form.
      Then there's always Zyban, a drug that doesn't contain nicotine products.
      "It will always depend on the individual ," Fildes said. "Not everything works for everybody. And those who can quit `cold turkey' have already done so. We just want smokers to see the clinic as a one-stop, smoke-stop shop."
      The team also takes into consideration the patient's lifestyle, environment, triggers and level of addiction.
      Fildes discusses a patient's accomplishments, assesses the problem behavior and addresses the most likely way to quit smoking on a case-by-case basis.
      The School of Medicine serves as a referral center, Turner said. It's not meant to replace a patient's primary care doctor, only to service smokers by helping them quit.
      By opening the new stop-smoking clinic, Turner and Fildes hope to increase their eligibility for grants and other funding, as well.
      Those interested in the stop-smoking clinic can call the University of Nevada School of Medicine at 702-671-2230.Cancer facts
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      The Nevada State Medical Association in 1995 reports that:
     -- Nevada is No. 1 in the U.S. in lung cancer deaths.
     -- Nevada is No. 1 in the U.S. in rates of chronic obstructive lung disease.
     -- Nearly 25 percent of all deaths in Nevada are attributable to smoking.
     -- Nevada ranked No. 43 among all 50 states for the general health of its population.
     -- In Nevada, the death rate due to smoking is 22 percent higher than the national average.