Grant to HMHP to help break nicotine addiction

Print Story

Email to Friend

Discuss this story

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — A $322,699 tobacco cessation grant awarded to Humility of Mary Health Partners came just in time, with enforcement of Ohio's new indoor workplace smoking ban beginning last Thursday.

"It may help employers with employees who want to quit smoking because they find it increasingly difficult to smoke in the workplace," said Terri Grimmett, manager of HMHP's Regional Tobacco Treatment Center funded by the grant.

The state's smoking law, with certain exceptions, bans indoor workplace smoking.

HMHP is one of five health systems in Ohio to receive part of a $1.8 million grant for 2007 from the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation to be used to develop tobacco cessation programs in the state. The Mahoning Valley is HMHP's target area.

"This grant will give us the resources we need to provide services to a significant segment of our community — people who struggle with nicotine addiction," Grimmett said.

"And with the state of Ohio going smoke free, we expect even more people to be in need of some sort of assistance as they quit the habit," she said.

Grimmett, of Cortland, a registered nurse and certified chemical dependence counselor, is a 19-year employee of Humility of Mary. She has been with the New Start Treatment Center, which is the St. Joseph Health Center's (formerly St. Joseph Riverside Hospital) addiction program, for 25 years, and its manager for the past four years.

Two locations

HMHP's regional tobacco treatment center has two locations. One, currently open and operating, is at the St. Joseph Minor Emergency and Diagnostic Center, 1296 Tod Ave. N.W. in Warren. The other is in Youngstown in the former gift shop on the first floor of St. Elizabeth Health Center. It is scheduled to open in June.

Grimmett said part of the grant was used to hire five additional clinical staff with specialized licenses in addiction counseling. The counselors received special training at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota or the New Jersey College of Medicine, which resulted in national certification as a tobacco treatment specialist.

The three-year grant, if renewed for a fourth year, would bring nearly $1.3 million to the area, Grimmett said. Humility of Mary is donating in-kind services for the program, such as space for the clinics and the services of Grimmett and Dr. Jagdish Patel, who is the program's medical director.

"It is our plan to sustain this program through reimbursement from insurance companies and Medicaid and Medicare," Grimmett said.

The grant also makes it possible for clients who aren't insured to receive services at no cost to them, she said. People interested in the program can call (330) 306-5010 or toll-free (877) 306-5010 for information, Grimmett said.

Other health systems that received grants are The Cleveland Clinic, The Ohio State University Health System in Columbus, Kettering Medical Center Network in Dayton and ProMedica Health System in Toledo.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007