When it comes to pregnancy and smoking, local clinicians say there’s just no butts about it ” it’s a bad idea. And, according to officials with the Partnership for Smoke-Free Families (PSF), there are no longer excuses to put an unborn child’s health at risk unnecessarily.
Children and pregnant women are particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of tobacco smoke, according to Phyllis Hartigan, senior program manager for the Center for Healthier Communities at Rady Children’s Hospital, and PSF Program.
As a result, Hartigan said the partnership focuses on this population in an obstetric and pediatric office-based tobacco-use prevention program that proactively links pregnant women and parents of small children who smoke with a proven local cessation resource.
PSF, unique to the San Diego area, has grown to include a network of more than 600 participating obstetricians and pediatricians.
Locally, the Women’s Health Clinic at the former Naval Training Center in Point Loma has been participating in the PSF program, helping patients provide a healthful environment for their growing babies, Hartigan said.
Of particular concern is the need to help smokers and families of smokers serving locally in the military.
“We’re very lucky to have this program in partnership with the Navy,” Hartigan said. “While our surveys of pregnant woman in the civilian population show an all-too-high rate of women who admit to smoking while pregnant, we find the rates are significantly higher among military families.”
Hartigan said that according to recent surveys conducted by PSF, 15 percent of women in the general civilian population reported at their first pre-natal checkup that they were either still smoking or had recently quit after learning of pregnancy. The figure among military women responding to the same questions was 24 percent.
“And that is why this program is so important locally,” Hartigan said. “Those specific needs are being addressed very early in the process.”
According to Hartigan, the PSF’s collaboration with local doctors’ offices and the California Smokers’ Helpline provides a reliable way for women to receive accurate information about the effects of tobacco use and an invaluable resource to link free statewide tobacco cessation counseling.
The program, created in 1998, was initially funded by Sharp Healthcare, Scripps Health and Rady Children’s Hospital. Hartigan said funding now comes from multiple sources.
Hartigan said PSF works closely with the California Smokers’ Helpline to assist pregnant and parental smokers in quitting. Smokers, identified by obstetric and pediatric clinicians throughout San Diego through a simple screening survey, are contacted by counselors from the California Smokers Helpline and offered free support and cessation materials to help them quit smoking.
“This innovative proactive recruitment model has been a great success,” said Hartigan. “Of 2,322 pregnant smokers identified and given the CSH toll-free number for cessation counseling, only 2 percent called on their own,” Hartigan said.
She said proactive recruitment, however, has resulted in 40 percent of these smokers receiving cessation services from CSH ” a 17-fold increase.
Hartigan said free help is available to pregnant smokers who want to quit by calling (800) NO-BUTTS.
The service can provide a choice of services: self-help materials, a referral list of other programs and one-on-one counseling over the phone.