Jamaica: Adventists target smokers who want to repent
August 13, 2014 – Spanish Town, Jamaica…Nigel Coke/IAD
In its bid to assist the government in its fight to achieve a smoke free environment, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica has stepped up its efforts with the training of individuals to help those who want to quit smoking.
Dr. Elie Honore’, president of the Adventist Health Care Services in Inter-America was the main presenter at the “Breathe Free” seminar from August 1-3, 2013. Images by Gary Witter.
While many Jamaican celebrated and reflected on the country’s Emancipation and Independence, more than 50 Adventist professionals, pastors, teachers and medical practitioners assembled at the headquarters of Central Jamaica Conference, August 1-3, 2013, in Spanish Town to learn more about “Breathe Free – The Plan to Stop Smoking.”
“Since the recent ban on smoking in public by the government, many individuals are expressing a desire to quit smoking,” said Dr. Milton Gregory, health ministries director for the church in Jamaica. “Hence, the Adventist Church has seen the need to empower as many persons as possible to help smokers to quit smoking.”
Because the problem of smoking is a lifestyle one, the “Breathe Free” program is a holistic one involving mental, social, spiritual and physical preparations – a combination of group therapy, nicotine detoxification and lifestyle changes with a strong spiritual component. It has been a program of the Adventist world church since 1964 when the plan covered a five-day period. Currently it covers nine sessions lasting four weeks.
The three-day training included presentations, hands-on experience in counseling and simulation and according to participant Pastor Devon Champier, the experience was an eye-opener to the real problem.
“The training was very informative and revealing and gives you a better appreciation the difficulty that smokers have to quit smoking,” said Champier. Champier said the course has empowered him on the need to facilitate and be patient with individuals in their struggle to quit.
Champier was also quick to say that the training done is not the final means to certification in the program. “We have to conduct a group program with persons who want to give up the habit of smoking before we can be certified. The timeframe will vary according to the individual being counseled because the program allows the individual to decide when they want to quit. Follow-ups take place after one month, three months, six months to a year.”
The “Breathe Free” program is currently going through revision because of new development in science and the need to reflect new knowledge and experience. There are over 20 recognized programs to help smokers to quit worldwide. The church’s “Breathe Free” program is among the top ten rating by success with a 74 percent success rate after a year.
Dr. Elie Honore’, president of the Adventist Health Care Services in Inter-America said the recent ban on smoking needs to address other critical areas.
Dr. Elie S. Honore, president of the Adventist Health Care Services in Inter-America, was the main speaker and said the recent ban on smoking needs to address other critical areas.
“The ban in itself does not accomplish much. It is just the legal aspect of tobacco problem,” said Honore who has been doing the Breathe Free program training over the past 23 years. “It protects non-smokers and smokers alike, but mainly non-smokers. It angers people because they see it as impeding their freedom, but they should see it as protecting those around them.”
“For a ban to be effective,” said Honore, “there needs to be education for young people and children for them not to start and the government also needs to provide professional help to those who want to quit.”
Jerome Logan, a 47-year-old from Kingston, quit smoking 15 years ago through the Breathe Free program had high praises for it.
“It was a tremendous help to me,” said Logan. “I am here today free from all ill-health of first-hand smoking,” he added. “The information given can bring anyone to that place to give up smoking. Though it’s a package, the physical side of it which is a desire or appetite for nicotine was the first to overcome. The spiritual side, which speaks to the real non-need and the damaging effect of smoking, was also important because it tells me that this which I desire so much is not good for me.”
Logan reiterated that the body is the temple of the Lord and appealed to youngsters not to start because the habit is very difficult to break.
The Government of Jamaica’s ban on smoking in public places took effect on July 15, 2013. Though crowded in controversy since, the move makes Jamaica the fourth country in the Caribbean community (Caricom) to become 100 per cent smoke-free, after Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Suriname. It is the 17th country in the Americas to take this step.
For more than a century, the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide has warned its youth and the general public regarding the addictive and health destroying nature of tobacco smoking. They believe that the ethics of prevention requires in every country a uniform ban on all tobacco advertising, stricter laws prohibiting smoking in non-residential public places, more aggressive and systematic public education, and substantially higher taxes on cigarettes. These measures they believe would save millions of lives every year.