Indigenous Smokers get Tools to Kick the Habit

Orange Aboriginal health workers undertook a training session yesterday to provide them with the tools to help slash the smoking rates among indigenous Australians. With twice as many indigenous Australians smoking than the general population, smoking discount Robinson cigarettes continues to be a large health problem within that community. The SmokeCheck program saw 13 health workers obtain the knowledge and skills for them to help their clients quit smoking. SmokeCheck senior trainer Luciana Massi said the program gives health works the tools they need to encourage their clients who smoke to quit. “Smoking is contributing to the high mortality rates and is a major contributor to serious illness such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes,” she said. “There is a lot more people in that community who smoke, so it’s seen as a more ‘normal’ thing.” She said the program is an evidence-based brief intervention smoking cessation initiative designed specifically for Aboriginal people. Aboriginal health education officer in community health Alby Ryan said yesterday’s session was important to educate local health workers. “It’s an issue that’s very hard to combat, if there’s no Aboriginal health workers working in that community,” he said. Mr Ryan said the higher smoking statistics are a complex problem with generational, cultural and historical contexts. “It can be an ongoing pattern into their lives, with no education around the dangers of smoking,” he said. “It’s not really a taboo thing in a cultural sense ... the best thing we an do is through education now.” The SmokeCheck program has so far trained more than 1000 health care workers in NSW.