2006 Institute Annual Report > Highlights > Education

Accelerating innovation, learning and improvements in health

Yvonne Wentz plans to join a bridge club and improve her golf game now that she stopped smoking. When she smoked, she needed to take breaks, which disrupted her focus and her competitive edge.

A less complicated life

It’s an undisputed fact. Smoking is addictive and quitting is hard.

Yvonne Wentz, a smoker for 45 years, didn’t think she would ever quit. “It was never the right time,” she said as she describes her attempts with the patch, gum and meetings. “I was waiting for life to be free from crisis or difficulties so it would be easier.”

Faced with upcoming surgery and encouraged by her doctor, Wentz met with Deborah Dora, a Park Nicollet Institute tobacco-cessation specialist at a QUITPLAN^SM Center. Wentz said, “I finally realized I’d be dead before I quit if I waited for life to be smooth as silk.”

Since May 2006, Park Nicollet has had six QUITPLAN Centers offering face-to-face counseling to help people address nicotine dependence. Funded by a grant through ClearWay Minnesota, centers are open to Minnesotans wanting to quit smoking or chewing tobacco. Services are free or require a minimal fee.

During visits, Wentz and Dora created a cessation plan based on information, support and Chantix, a medication that targets nicotine receptors in the brain. “That combination made this the right time for me to quit,” said Wentz. “I finally believed in myself.”

It has been 10 weeks since Wentz smoked. How does she feel?  “Life is less complicated,” she explains. “I smoked outside — even in the cold. When visiting friends, I took cigarette breaks, missing out on conversation. I didn’t even want to go to a long movie. It was too hard. Now all that is gone!”

Wentz and her husband are planning a vacation this fall, taking a train from the Pacific coast to the Canadian Rockies. “We’ve always wanted to go, but because I couldn’t smoke on the train, I knew I would be too uncomfortable to enjoy the trip,” she said. How does her family feel about her quitting? “My grandchildren are delighted, my daughter is proud and my husband is ecstatic!”

Learning for the future
As part of this grant, the Institute is researching insurance reimbursement for cessation services. We will study when and how we are reimbursed and by whom. This knowledge will build capacity for health care providers to deliver and obtain reimbursement for cessation services, so people like Wentz can take all the train rides of their dreams.