Diane and James Best enrolled in LIVE FOR LIFE's QuitSmart classes after reading an article about how Johnnetta Moore quit smoking with help from LIVE FOR LIFE. At left, Moore, a student account analyst in the Duke bursar's office, also encouraged the Bests to quit.
 For
more information about smoking cessation options at Duke, please
click here.
Johnetta Moore had tried to quit smoking many times, but she finally managed to
kick the habit two years
ago with the help of a Duke smoking cessation program.
 With the help of a Duke smoking cessation program, Michael Jamison has
reduced the amount of nicotine entering his body, cutting the number of cigarettes he smokes in half.
Kicking the Habit with Help from Human Resources
With more than 40 years of smoking between them, a strong desire to quit wasn't enough to help Diane Best and her husband, James, kick the habit.
James had made attempts to quit smoking off and on through the years, including last summer when his employer implemented a smoke-free policy. Diane was inspired to quit after reading an article in a Duke publication about a fellow employee who quit. But their "cold turkey" approach to breaking the habit was unsuccessful.
"I promised I would quit if he did so we could be supportive of each other," said Diane, a staff assistant at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy. "We both wanted to quit for health reasons, but we couldn't seem to stick with it. We were both very disappointed when we started smoking again."
Their attempt at quitting was rekindled once again when Duke Medicine announced it was going tobacco free on July 4, 2007. After hearing that Duke expanded its smoking cessation options to offer programs at no cost for spouses and same-sex partners of employees, Diane recruited her husband and together they began the
QuitSmart class series. They took a puff of their last cigarette on Jan. 31, 2007.
"I never tried to quit smoking with any type of help before," said James, 52, who smoked since he was 21. "This year, we thankfully found the right resources to help us change our smoking habits for good."
Through the QuitSmart program offered by LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke's employee wellness program, the Bests discovered they each have different triggers that encourage them to smoke. James said he instinctively picked up a cigarette while driving and "for satisfaction after working intensely." For Diane, the triggers include smoking after eating and "while working intensely on something."
Identifying their triggers made it easier to do something different when the craving to smoke was the strongest, such as taking a walk after eating, instead of smoking.
"Quitting was much easier this time because the QuitSmart classes and instructors provided us with the information, tools and support we needed to be successful," Diane said. "Our goal of remaining non-smokers for the rest of our lives now seems reachable."
For others struggling to stop smoking, the Bests offer this advice — seek support from friends, family and co-workers, and try to get any other smokers in your home to quit. And go to the smoking cessation classes because they really work, the Bests said.
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