CAPRI to offer second Freedom From Smoking class

by Billy Todd Staff Writer The Sampson Independent

Courtesy photo The Freedom From Smoking program offered by CAPRI, has only limited space for 16 people. Class begins Tuesday, March 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Have you tried to quit smoking? Do you want to kick the habit? If so, the Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation Institute (CAPRI), offered through Sampson Regional Medical Center, has a plan for you the Freedom from Smoking program.

The American Lung Association produced the program that has been around since 1980. Research has proven that this class is very beneficial in the cessation of smoking and has been called Americans gold standard in smoking cessation programs.

CAPRI manager Frank Bray, RRT, CPFT, RCP, HFS, is a registered respiratory therapist and certified pulmonary function technologist who instructs the Freedom From Smoking class at the Center for Health + Wellness. Class begins March 13 and continues through April 24. The class meets from 6 to 8 p.m. each Tuesday evening with the exception of the fourth week when it meets on Tuesday and Thursday.

Bray explains that there are three phases for the class. The first three weeks we prepare the class members to stop smoking. The Tuesday of the fourth week is Quit Day. We even have a service where we bury the habit. The Thursday class is for reinforcement. The last three weeks we spend time on maintaining our new habit of not smoking, explained the instructor.

The Freedom From Smoking program focuses on behavior change. Bray asserts, You have got to want to quit to do it. The program has a positive focus. It emphasizes the benefits of better health and improved lifestyle habits, as well as mastery of ones own life. The activities and assignments provide the class members who smoke with proven strategies for changing their behavior and lifestyle.

The instructor shared that he felt the area needed a proven smoking cessation program that was medically and ethically sound, cost-effective and evidence-based and able to be replicated, something the Freedom From Smoking program has been shown to accomplish.

In 1975, the leadership of the American Lung Association, American Thoracic Society, and Congress Lung Association staff launched a project to develop a smoking cessation program. Each organization offered a unique contribution: The ALA had the concerned and committed volunteers, ATS supplied scientific research and expertise, and the CLAS provided practical experience as health education professionals.

Bray stresses that it is vitally important to understand that as a result of this research and development, the Freedom From Smoking self-help manuals were introduced nationwide in 1980. The Freedom From Smoking Clinic Program was first introduced in 1981, and has helped hundreds of thousands of smokers quit since then. The newest intervention approach designed by the American Lung Association, Freedom From Smoking Online, was first offered in 1996 as an Internet chat room. It was redesigned and launched in 2001 and now offers 24-hour, 7-day-a-week access to intervention sessions and message boards at http://www.ffsonline.org. All Freedom From Smoking products are regularly reviewed and updated to make sure Freedom From Smoking remains the gold standard in smoking cessation programs.

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CAPRI to offer second Freedom From Smoking class