HCC hosts smoking cessation workshop for campus community

Halifax Community College (HCC) hosted a smoking cessation workshop for faculty, staff and students July 27. The presenter was Administrative Director of Clinical and Support Operations at Halifax Regional Medical Center Bruce Robistrow. Information covered the health hazards of smoking and smoking cessation.

“This is the first piece of professional development for smoking cessation,” said Dean of Student Services Barbara Bradley-Hasty.

Robistrow said that smoking-related death is the “slowest way to die.”

He also said that since a report from the Office of the Surgeon General was published in 2006, even cigarette manufacturers have acknowledged that there is no safe level for second-hand smoke.

A former smoker himself, Robistrow said that three things pushed him to stop smoking. These included the price of a carton of cigarettes, the smoking environment at the hospital and the start of some breathing problems. “You can’t quit until you want to quit and are ready. You just have to figure out what you want to do,” he added.

Benefits of quitting include a return to normal blood pressure and pulse rates, normal body temperature, a reduced carbon monoxide level, normal oxygen levels, reduced chances of heart attack, better ability to smell and taste, improved blood circulation and lung function, clear lungs, reduced coughing and risk of lung infection, and reduced risk of heart disease, lung cancer and cancer of the mouth and throat.

Bruce Robistrow