Quit smoking classes successful

By Ira Mikell, Free Press Reporter

July 16, 2008 05:13 pm

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The Lafayette Public Library hosted a series of seminars earlier this year on how to quit smoking and live healthy. The event was held May 6-June 3.
According to Shary Humphrey, who replaced Katie Hadsock as a Suwannee River Area Health Education Center representative for Lafayette County, five people attended the classes. Humphrey now lives in Branford and has knowledge and experience in respiratory therapy. “Shary knows how great the need is to offer skills to assist people in quitting their tobacco addictions, whether they smoke, dip, or chew,” Kristin Gant, Tobacco Program Coordinator for Suwannee River AHEC, said in an email interview.
Mary Ducksworth and her husband Mark Johns attended every class. They said they were quite impressed with the program and that it has given them the motivation and encouragement they need to not give up on their goal of being smoke free.
“I thought it was a very good program,” Ducksworth said during a phone interview. Ducksworth and her husband said they learned a lot from the program and plan to attend the next seminar held in Mayo.
To show their appreciation for hosting the event, Humphrey, on behalf of the event’s sponsors as well as those who attended, recently presented a plaque to Lafayette County Public Library Manager Cindy Tysall.
Humphrey said the event was very successful and another seminar is planned for Mayo in the fall.
Sponsors of the five-week seminar were the Florida Department of Health, Mayo Health Services, and the Suwannee River Area Health Education Center.