Base supports World No Tobacco Day Published May 31, 2013 By Stuart Bapties Health and Wellness Center ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Every year on May 31 the World Health Organization and partners across the globe mark "World No Tobacco Day," highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco exposure. What are the reasons to support World No Tobacco Day by not smoking for just a day? Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. About 443,000 Americans die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke each year, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking. The harmful effects of smoking don't end with the smoker. More than 126 million non-smoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke, and it's been proven that even brief exposure can be dangerous. Secondhand smoke exposure causes serious disease and death, including heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, not to mention frequent and severe asthma attacks. Each year - primarily because of exposure to secondhand smoke - nearly 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer, more than 46,000 die of heart disease, and between 150,000 and 300,000 children younger than 18 months have lower respiratory tract infections. Coupled with this enormous health toll is the significant economic burden of tobacco use - more than $193 billion per year in medical expenditures and lost productivity. Robins employees and family members using either Tricare or other Federal Employee Health Benefits Plans are 100 percent covered for Tobacco Cessation Programs, to include use of medications at no cost. Federal employees simply obtain the prescription from their doctor and present it to a retail pharmacy; there is no co-payment, no deductible, and no dollar limit. For more information on the FEHB visit www.opm.gov/quitsmoking or call the HAWC at 327-8480 Tri-Care beneficiaries have a variety of options: 1. You can call the HAWC and speak to Stuart Bapties or Nikki Hernandez, base Tobacco Cessation counselors, who will schedule you for class and facilitate having medications ordered through the 78th Medical Group. 2. If you are seeing a civilian provider in town and obtain a prescription, you can have it delivered free of charge through the TRICARE Pharmacy Home Delivery Service or stop by the HAWC between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. and ask for Hernandez, who will assist with obtaining the medications through the 78th MDG Tobacco Cessation Program. For more information on your Tricare benefit, visit www.tricare.mil or call the HAWC at 327-8480. One thing to keep in mind is that evidence shows those using medications in their quit attempts are 44 percent more likely to be successful when they combine it with Tobacco Cessation Counseling, which is free of charge to all with access to the base and available at the HAWC every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to noon. To register, simply call the HAWC at 327-8480.