Health District Hopes to Help More Adults Quit Smoking

After restricting smoking cessation classes to only a segment of the public, Idaho health officials hope to now expand their services with more funding.
The state funds a website and an 800 number that offer support for those looking to quit smoking, but Idaho’s health districts are the main organizations that offer public cessation classes. And as budgets have tightened, the classes have only been offered to “priority” targets over the past year.
The South Central Public Health District (SCPHD) only offers classes to teenagers who have a court order from a judge to attend them or pregnant moms participating in the Women, Infants and Children Program.

The health districts’ cessation classes are funded through the Millennium Fund, made up of tobacco settlement proceeds. This year, district officials are requesting $750,000 to fund more classes and the instructors in charge of leading the sessions. Gov .C.L. “Butch” Otter recommended distributing $500,000 to the districts for that purpose.
In a recent report from the American Lung Association, Idaho received an “F” in smoking cessation resources. The report graded states on Medicaid coverage, state employee health insurance plans and the state’s quitline.
The report found that while Medicaid covers seven cessation medications — like nicotine replacement gum or patches — it fails to cover counseling and puts an annual limit on funding attempts to quit smoking.
Last year, health districts requested $500,000 to continue offering the classes and received $250,000.
That meant the SCPHD received $33,000 to cover the cost of the classes, said Rene LeBlanc, the district’s director. If the district gets its requested budget amount, the district could receive close to $100,000.
“After our funding got cut in half, we had to focus on teens and pregnant moms,” LeBlanc said. “We would like to offer it back up to adults again.”
The classes are important because of the high success rate they usually achieve, said Elvia Caldera, a SCPHD health education specialist.
Almost three-quarters of the 70 teenagers enrolled in cessation classes in the last year no longer smoke, and a third of the 60 pregnant women have given up the smoking habit, she said.
“We can only do so much with what we have. Funding is such a key point in what we can offer,” Caldera said.