Is your New Year's resolution to stop smoking, but you just can't kick the habit? The Nevada Cancer Institute is offering smoking cessation classes. The six-week course is free of charge and held at the institute's facility at One Breakthrough Way, 10441 W. Twain Ave.
The next course is slated to begin on Monday. Class space is limited. Call 822-5192 to register.
The hour-long sessions will be taught by Gary Pfifer, a certified addictions counselor who said he has spent almost four decades helping people kick their addictions. Before joining NVCI as an addictions counselor, he worked for corporations to help their employees toss their cigarettes.
"This course is an excellent way to help unlock the benefits of a healthier, more enjoyable lifestyle," Pfifer said. "Whether someone is trying to fulfill a New Year's resolution or cultivate a positive change in their life, this course helps provide the support and knowledge necessary to overcome a difficult addiction."
He seems to know what he's talking about. He began smoking a pack a day at age 13. He quit cold turkey when he was 27.
In the classes, people can learn the different methods available to quit, find out how the body will begin to heal itself once they stop smoking and what to expect when the nicotine urge kicks into high gear. Pfifer gives tips on how to avoid triggers that lead to automatically picking up a cigarette, like chucking that "coffee, morning paper and a smoke" habit.
"If you are a nonsmoker, it is difficult to appreciate how an addiction affects you," Pfifer said. "As a class member, you know everyone in the class is going through the same issues and you are not alone."
Statistically, using nicotine replacement therapy, such as gum, patches and inhalers, has been the most effective way to quit, Pfifer said. But what method works for one, may not work for another, he said. Most people try to quit seven to 10 times, or more, before they find a method that works for them, Pfifer said.
Sometimes, their health is so compromised, they must quit.
"I tell people going into cardiac surgery, 'Your smoking days are over,' " said Amy Pfeiffer, cardiac clinical nurse specialist at Summerlin Hospital. "Put them down and never pick them up again."
Some feel guilt because they smoke.
"I don't like doing it and I don't want anyone else to know I do it," said Christene King, a teacher, who began smoking at 17.
When told of the smoking cessation classes, King said she'd be interested in finding out more "because I don't like the connotations when everyone passes the recent (smoking ban initiative)."
From 1997 to 2001, smoking cost the nation about $92 billion in the form of lost productivity at work, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The New York-New York has signed up to offer NVCI's smoking cessation classes on-site for its 2,400 employees.
"We fully support our employees in their health goals, including quitting smoking," said Kelley Tucky, vice president of benefits education and health promotion for New York-New York's parent company MGM Mirage. "NVCI partners with MGM Mirage in many efforts to encourage cancer education and prevention among our employees and in the community."
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