USA

Ginnie Henry
Tar Wars - Illinois Academy of Family Physicians (IL)

I took my job with the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians two years ago, one of the programs that attracted me to the position was the Tar Wars tobacco-free education program for fifth graders. IAFP had just begun offering the program to schools and sending physician members in to schools to teach the lesson.

I had my first cigarette in the fifth grade. Then I became an on again off again smoker in high school (although never at school, during basketball season or around non-smokers). Once I reached college, it became more of an every day habit. After graduation, smoking became part of everyday life waiting tables, and then into my first career of producing live and pre-produced television. I was always around smokers and it was our way to cope with the stress of the job. I always wanted to quit, but not enough to actually do it.

Finally I quit my job and took the job at IAFP, which involved moving 700 miles from family and friends and starting over on my own. However the absolute stress of the move and the new job and the homesickness was my excuse to continue using cigarettes as a crutch. But things would get better. Working in a health-conscious environment was the first step to help kick the habit. No one smoked around me. Then I took over administering the Tar Wars program, and going out around the state to promote Tar Wars to schools and training physicians to teach it. How could I possible continue smoking when my work now revolved around keeping others away from tobacco? I decided to practice what I preached and did away with cigarettes for good.

As my Tar Wars program grew and flourished, my need for cigarettes diminished. I've been smoke free for almost a year now. And I think it's a powerful message when I tell other kids about my story and how I was just their age the first time started sneaking cigarettes and hiding out to smoke, and that led to a 15 year on and off habit. We didn't have tobacco education when I was a child. All I knew about smoking was that all four of my grandparents smoked, and that my parents didn't like it. That's hardly enough to keep a kid away from something that otherwise appears totally harmless. The more we can educate these kids and fight the powerful images of the tobacco industry, the more children we can save from falling into the same 15 year trap (or longer) that I fought through.