Lung Health News, Spring / Summer 2005
Mim Long had no idea the impact it would have when she agreed to appear on the Dr. Phil show and talk about her experience kicking her addiction to tobacco through the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking® Online program. She found out when the January 5 broadcast generated a record-setting 13,000 online registrations for the association’s free quit-smoking program.
“I really hope it inspired people to quit,” says Long, who stopped smoking through the online program in October 2002 after trying “just about everything.”
The show was broadcast during Dr. Phil’s “resolutions week” and focused on addiction resolutions. It featured guests trying to break free from their addictions, including Melanie, a mother of two who hasn’t been able to quit smoking, even after her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The Dr. Phil show is a nationally syndicated one-hour talk show featuring Dr. Phil McGraw, a licensed clinical psychologist who first gained media attention for his plain talk and common-sense advice when he was a regular on the top-rated Oprah Winfrey Show.
Dr. Phil mentioned the American Lung Association’s online program toward the end of the show and then asked Long about it.
“I smoked for 15 years,” she told Dr. Phil. “It came down to the wire and I went on the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking® program and worked those steps like my life depended on it – because it did.”
Dr. Phil included a link on his Web site that takes visitors directly to the Freedom From Smoking® Online registration page on the American Lung Association’s site.
Online Quit-Smoking Program Provides Support
Modeled after the association’s seven-week behavior-modification course, the online program uses the same proven techniques of helping smokers understand when and why they smoke so they can modify their behavior and quit for good. Participants can log on to the program anytime and go at their own pace.
“The program helped me feel prepared and supported in this major life change,” says Long, who lives in Los Angeles. “It’s just the hardest thing to do. But with the online program, I felt like there was a plan out there for me. A place where they know how hard it is.”
The online program contains a workbook with seven modules. In the first one, participants are introduced to the facilitator and are encouraged to take part in the message board, where they can communicate with others who are trying to quit or stay quit and share their experiences.
“The message board was a big help. One time I wrote that it felt like there was a kid inside me stomping her foot because she wanted a cigarette and someone wrote back, ‘Tell her to sit down.’ I’ll never forget that. It was exactly what I needed to hear,” Long says. “Now I get on the message board to encourage others.”
Show Boosts Carol Burnett Ad/Poster Downloads
After the show aired, the American Lung Association of California’s Web site received a large number of visitors from across the country and Canada who downloaded the association’s free promotional ad/poster or viewed its television public service ads featuring Carol Burnett and promoting the Freedom From Smoking® Online program.
The comedian volunteered to star in the award-winning campaign after her daughter Carrie, a longtime smoker, died from lung cancer at 38. Featured on Entertainment Tonight, four of the public service ads focus on Burnett, including one in which she talks about her daughter.
The free ad/poster has been used by a variety of businesses and organizations to promote the online quit-smoking program, including the California Department of Corrections. All state prisons must be tobacco-free by July 1, 2005.
Long encourages everyone who smokes to try the Freedom From Smoking® program.
“We feel like we’re going to die if we don’t have another cigarette,” she says. “But the fact is, we’re going to die if we do.”
