rjd@ctri.wisc.edu
Program to Help Fond du Lac County Smokers Quit
FOND DU LAC—Striving to Quit, a project to help BadgerCare Plus and Medicaid members quit smoking, will be available to eligible Fond du Lac County residents beginning on Monday, Jan. 5. Striving to Quit offers enhanced coaching from the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line and modest financial incentives to eligible participants who agree to quit smoking and be coached in the quit process by the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line.
To inquire about eligibility, Fond du Lac County residents should call the Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).
If a resident is eligible for the Striving to Quit study, the Quit Line will direct them to the County location where they will take a smoking test to confirm smoking status. The test involves breathing into a device that measures the amount of carbon monoxide—a byproduct of smoking. If enrolled in the Striving to Quit study, prospective quitters receive a total of $80 in Visa gift cards: A $40 gift card for taking their first smoking test and a second $40 gift card for taking a second test six months later.
Testing is available Mondays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The Quit Line will provide the address of the test site to potentially eligible Medicaid members, which is located in a Fond du Lac County building in downtown Fond du Lac.
Eligible residents must be current BadgerCare Plus or Medicaid members. So far, more than 1,400 BadgerCare Plus and Medicaid members are enrolled in the study, which ends in 2015. Striving to Quit is a partnership between the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, the Wisconsin Medicaid Program, and the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTRI).
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UW-CTRI is a nationally recognized research center founded in 1992 and committed to determining the nature of tobacco dependence and developing evidence-based treatments to assist smokers. UW-CTRI is part of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. For more information, visit www.ctri.wisc.edu.