Admitting the need for help is the first step toward recovery. Avera Addiction Care Center in Aberdeen focuses on treatment for the whole person to encourage and promote healing and recovery. Use of tobacco and vaping products often go hand-in-hand with alcohol, drugs, and gambling. Coordinating the delivery of a Kick Start Kit at the time of admission eases the transition to a tobacco free environment and extends the health care team for addiction support.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. CT
Presenter: Jordan Mounga, Coordinator, Communities that Care Avera Addiction Care Center
Objectives:
- Highlight the focus on addiction in the Aberdeen community
- Describe the process for integrating the Kick Start Toolkit
- Encourage collaboration and community engagement to reduce the impact of addiction
“To best serve our patients, we must integrate a person-centered holistic approach. This includes being able to address all substance use and anything clouding their ability to be substance free. Historically, Avera Addiction Care Center had always allowed patients in programming to have breaks and access to outdoor spaces for the use of tobacco products. In the February 2021, Avera Addiction Care Center moved to the main campus of Avera St. Luke’s Hospital to provide ease of access for staff, patients and visitors to our facilities. It was clear that allowing tobacco use was no longer in line with our mission and values, and worked to change policy around it, shared Jordan Mounga, Coordinator, Communities that Care Avera Addiction Care Center.
July of 2021, the AACC Tobacco Free Policy was enacted. Schedule breaks are now utilized for outside walks, trips to the new meditation park and self-care. Additional wellness topics and updated tobacco lectures are in place. Avera Addiction Care Center also entered into a pilot program with the SD Quitline late February 2022 to be able to order Kickstart kits for patients entering treatment. Patients are informed, prior to entering treatment, that Avera Avera Addiction Center is a tobacco-free facility. If requested, Kickstart kits are ordered to have prior to admission. If unable to contact prior, enrollment with the Quiltine happens day of admission. Kickstart materials are arriving from Pierre to Aberdeen in 1-2 business days. To date, 34 patients have utilized this service.
The national average of attempts to quit using tobacco products is between 8 – 10. Don’t give up! Create supports, accountability and rewards to create the best scenario for success.
Mounga concluded, “There has been an increase in the use of vapes and myth surrounding them that they are safer. According to the American Heart Association, “Most e-cigarettes deliver nicotine, which is highly addictive and can harm the developing brains of teens, kids and fetuses in women who vape while pregnant. Some types expose users to even more nicotine than traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes’ biggest threat to public health may be this: The increasing popularity of vaping may “re-normalize” smoking, which has declined for years. Reversing the hard-won gains in the global effort to curb smoking would be catastrophic. Smoking is still the leading preventable cause of death and is responsible for 480,000 American lives lost each year.”
Additional Best Practice Brief Sessions
Vape Video Challenge Promotes Peer Messaging
Tuesday, November 8, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. CT
Teenagers experience peer pressure, and it can have significant consequences…some good and some bad. Engaging high school students in developing messages about the dangers of vaping using a video challenge has created a positive buzz through the hallways and in the community. The South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care is expanding to include the creative talents of students participating in one-act plays to grow the collection of peer-based messages aimed at prevention, cessation, and education around tobacco use.
Objectives:
- Highlight the growing numbers of adolescents who use tobacco or vape products
- Describe the criteria of the Vaping Video Challenge
- Encourage the use of peer-based tobacco/vaping prevention messages
Speaker: Mindy Heuer, RN, CST, Program Manager, South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care
Refusing to Quit on Watertown
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. CT
Gone are the days of ashtrays and cigarettes in local restaurants and offices. Unfortunately, the fruity smell of nicotine vapors and smashed remains of electronic vaping devices in parking lots have become the alternative. Easy to conceal due to the pleasant smell and clever designs, a growing number of young adults and adolescents are becoming addicted to nicotine. The Northeast Prevention Resource Center is partnering with health care professionals and community members in Watertown, SD, to educate on the dangers of nicotine and promote resources to successfully overcome nicotine addiction.
Objectives:
- Highlight community partnerships for reducing nicotine access and exposure.
- Describe best practices and ongoing challenges increasing awareness.
- Encourage communities to request partnership grant funding.
Speaker: Kelli Rumpza, CPS, Watertown Community Prevention Specialist, Human Service Agency
Register for Refusing to Quit on Watertown
Quitting for Two is a Bright Start
Tuesday, November 22, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. CT
A first-time pregnancy can be an equally exciting and overwhelming phase of life. Extra support and medical care is important for the health of every woman and every baby, and use of tobacco products during and after pregnancy can lead to health complications.
Objectives:
- Highlight the SD Quitline support and resources available for pregnancy women.
- Describe how the SD Quitline, For Baby’s Sake, and Bright Start program work together to improve the health of women and babies.
- Encourage health care professionals and caregiver
Speakers: Kaitlyn Ashley, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Black Hills Special Services, Shelly Freese, MSN, RN Coordinator| Bright Start/Nurse Family Partnership
Office of Child and Family Services, SD Department of Health
Register for Quitting for Two is a Bright Start
Best Practice Briefs are 20-minute micro-learning sessions to highlight successful system and policy change. The briefs are short, to the point, and real. Real people and real processes that really work! This series is brought to you by the South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care (SDFMC) in partnership with Great Plains Quality Innovation Network. For all Best Practice Brief Series sessions, visit the SDFMC site.