Smokeout Event Brings Awareness

Thursday is the Great American Smokeout, a day dedicated to helping smokers find a way to quit. 

The event began in 1970s when smoking was commonplace. Since then, there has been a dramatic change in the way society views tobacco.  From 1965 to today, the percentage of Americans who smoke has dropped from 42 percent to 18 percent, but Indiana still has one of the highest rates. 

Dr. Mimi Ceppa, thoracic surgeon and director of IU Health’s lung cancer screening program says there’s still a lack of awareness in the Hoosier state.

"Twenty-one percent of adults in Indiana smoke, which is one of the highest rates in the country," says Ceppa. "The more we talk about it, the more we promote tobacco cessation awareness the better off we'll be in the future."

The Great American Smokeout aims to create awareness about the different ways people can kick the habit such as nicotine replacement tools, medicine or support groups. 

Still, about a quarter of a million people will be diagnosed with lung cancer in the U.S. this year, some of them through new screening methods like advanced CT scans.   

"It is a more detailed way of looking of identifying nodules at a much smaller/more curable rate," says Ceppa.      

Lung cancer claims the lives of nearly 10,000 Hoosiers every year.