Suggestions

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Here are some suggested ways to use Pathways to Freedom to help individuals and communities become healthier and tobacco-free.

Health Centers

• Share copies of Pathways to Freedom with patients and at each  visit ask about individual tobacco use and exposure to other people's smoking.
• Have copies of Pathways to Freedom available in the waiting room and exam rooms for people to read while waiting to be seen.
• Use the information in Pathways to Freedom to explain to smoking patients the importance of setting a quit date.
• Have a health professional ask about progress toward quitting at each follow-up appointment.
• Explain the usefulness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) using the Pathways to Freedom pages to explain what NRT is and how it can help an addicted smoker quit.
• Identify certain days in each month to focus on smoking cessation at the health center and track whether more copies of Pathways to Freedom are taken home during those days in comparison to other days in the month.

Quitlines

• Mention Pathways to Freedom in public service announcements to encourage African-American smokers and their loved ones to call in for help in quitting.
• If the smoker has attempted to quit and relapsed in the past, encourage use of nicotine replacement therapy as explained in Pathways to Freedom.
• When talking to callers, go over specific pages of Pathways to Freedom in a telephone conversation before sending out the booklet.
• Ask callers how they heard about the Quitline. If they mention Pathways to Freedom, ask where they heard or saw the message to determine which media outlets are most effective in encouraging calls.

Community Groups

• Use the list of "Things to Do" on page 37 in Pathways to Freedom to select the best activities for community action.
• Have copies of Pathways to Freedom available to distribute at community meetings.
• Use information in Pathways to Freedom to educate community members on the reasons why indoor spaces should be tobacco free to protect people from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
• Obtain names and telephone numbers from people who ask for Pathways to Freedom guides to use as contacts for follow-up.
• Put up Pathways to Freedom posters with postage-paid tear-offs in community settings where people congregate and track how many people return the tear-offs or make follow-up calls.

Work Sites

• Have copies of Pathways to Freedom on display, especially if the work site is smokefree.
• Give out promotional items with the Pathways to Freedom logo as reminders of the importance of quitting.
• Encourage co-workers to try to quit smoking as a group, so that they can give each other support using Pathways to Freedom as a self-help guide.
• Share the stages of change outlined in Pathways to Freedom on page 24 to help people identify where they are on their path toward becoming smokefree.
• Talk with nonsmokers and former smokers about ways that they can be supportive of co-workers trying to quit, using the advice in Pathways to Freedom.
• Offer discounts or free nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) for workers who agree to use the advice in Pathways to Freedom and ask users of NRTs to fill out surveys on their progress toward quitting.

Churches and Faith Communities

• Include quotations and text from Pathways to Freedom in church bulletins as a way to encourage smokers to quit and former smokers not to relapse.
• Have Pathways to Freedom guides available to give out—even if there are no obvious smokers in the congregation. Members may have family members and friends who still smoke.
• Use Pathways to Freedom as the focal point for a Smokeless Sabbath program, linking the importance of good health to appropriate verses in the scriptures.
• Encourage church leaders to become involved in community activities to prevent tobacco use by following the community mobilization advice in Pathways to Freedom.
• Schedule regular cessation classes as part of church outreach efforts using the Pathways to Freedom guide, and keep a tally of attendance, quit attempts, and successful quits.

Community-Based Organizations (CBO's)

• Post key pages of Pathways to Freedom on bulletin boards at the CBO office as a reminder to staff, clients, and volunteers who smoke that they should try to quit.
• Seek funding to conduct cessation classes and provide free or low-cost nicotine replacement therapies, using Pathways to Freedom as a guide for smokers who want to quit.
• Encourage youth groups to create their own tobacco prevention and control posters, using the illustrations in Pathways to Freedom as examples.
• Have a recorded message with information from Pathways to Freedom on a special healthline and use the message to track how many people request information on quitting. Change the message daily or weekly.

Physicians

• Have copies of Pathways to Freedom on display in the waiting room and in the patient rooms so that smokers can get information while they are waiting to be seen by the health professional.
• Ask patients whether they are smoking and if they are, give them a copy of Pathways to Freedom to take home.
• Cut out photographs and illustrations from Pathways to Freedom and post them on the walls and doors as decoration and information.
• Record the smoking status of patients at each visit and indicate how many have quit using Pathways to Freedom as a comparison to other quit smoking methods.