Transcription:

Scott Webb: Many smokers want to be former smokers, but despite the many benefits to quitting smoking, it can be downright difficult to do. And joining me today to discuss the benefits to quitting and how the Aspire Program at Franciscan Health can help is Dr. Michael Mooney. He's a board certified family physician with a special interest in helping you to stop smoking. this is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb. So Dr. Mooney, thanks so much for joining me today. We're gonna talk about quitting smoking, smoking cessation, which you know, so easy to say, but so hard to do, but before we get there, tell us about yourself, what you do, how you do it, your approach to patient care, and so on?

Dr. Michael Mooney: Thanks Scott. So, yes, my training is in family medicine. I've been a part of the Health System for oh, about nine years after graduating from IU medical school. And I'm also the medical director of the Aspire Program, the tobacco cessation initiative we have. And I wanted to come on the episode today because I want to get the message out. We Have this terrific resource here in the area, for our patients and we want help people quit smoking.

Okay.

Scott Webb: Yeah. Well, first of all, I'm glad to hear you say that you went to IU. Both of my folks went to IU. I was born in Indiana, so it's always, always good to talk to a Housier. go Yeah. So let's talk about that, right? I know there are so many benefits, health cost, and otherwise, why should any smoker, all smokers quit smoking?

Dr. Michael Mooney: Like you said, I mean, there's no other one single thing a person can do to improve their health. We talk about this all the time. I think it's a fact that everybody's heard, but it really bears repeating. And that is, this is that tobacco is leading cause of preventable death in modern times. But it's much more than a mortality concern. It's also a morbidity concern. As a primary care physician in my office, you know, we see a myriad of complaints day to day. And when people come in with their migraines or their insomnia. their depression, their anxiety, even their pain.

Of course these people are wanting to feel better. And most of them can be shocked when I'll bring up their tobacco status and it can be a tough sell, but honestly the people that can buy in that there's this link between tobacco and some of the problems that they're complaining of these are the same folks that come back and follow up down the line. And, they're just ecstatic about how much better they feel. Honestly, it's, one of my favorite parts of the job is that I can, work with these patients to change a one particular thing. It's a big thing, but changing this one thing and how much of an effect it has just this positive effect on their health overall.

Scott Webb: Yeah, it's so interesting. To hear you put it that way, because I speak with a lot of experts, obviously from Franciscan Health and every one of them, it doesn't matter what the topic is. It always comes back to smoking. Right. So we'll say, so how do we avoid this or prevent that? And they almost always say, the first thing is, well, first of all, if you smoke, you need to quit smoking. ` You're definitely on the right track there. And you mentioned earlier about the Aspire Program, tell us about the program, tell us, you know, what folks can expect when they walk through the door, and so on?

Dr. Michael Mooney: Truly you're never wrong to suggest to somebody that quitting smoking is a good thing for them. So you're a hundred percent right on that, so the Aspire Program, it's this multidisciplinary. people coming together essentially dedicated to helping people quit smoking. It's just this very efficient tool to help them achieve that goal. A lot of people that smoke want to quit. Most people that smoke have tried to quit and we get to see this all the time where people come in and discouraged and disappointed that the things that they've tried on their own, haven't helped them, in the way that they thought it could.

 So what we do is this very comprehensive strategy to ensure that they have the best possible chance. So we have all these, collaborative ideas and things that we can put together. It's certainly not a one size fits all program. It's very personalized. It's very specific. Certainly there's some things we do for everybody, but as a patient works through the program, as we get to know, these people better, we're able to give more. Instructions for strategies for quitting, we have counselors that do one on one appointments, both virtually and in person. The person I have here in my office,

She's just terrific. She's a clinical tobacco specialist that uses techniques like motivational interviewing to help people arrive at the conclusion that they already want to arrive. I mean, she does these techniques that it's not hypnosis, but it's, really is kind of convincing the brain to realize what it already realizes, which is everybody that smokes knows that smoking's bad. But that's part of the difficult with the addiction is that part of the brain doesn't want to give that up. Besides those counselor appointments, I see patients in the office, virtually and in person.

My conversation is really dedicated, more towards pharmacologic conversations. So we have terrific modern day medicines to help people quit smoking. And sometimes I get this thing in the office where people will say, I really want to do it on my own, and I always want to tell them you don't have to do it on your own. With things like diabetes, we don't ask these people to, go home and will yourself into having better blood sugar control, and the same things with tobacco. We have these amazing medicines that we can use.

And so I love having the conversations about that. I talk about nicotine replacement products, so patches, gums, lozenges, you know, it's easy to think. Well, these are over the counter, people are already using these things, but what I've found in practice is that a lot of people aren't using them in the best possible way. And so even with a little bit of adjustment, we can maximize how you are using patches, how you're using gum to give you again, the best possible chance to be successful in quitting. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that, later this year we're gonna be doing some virtual group meetings. It's something we're pretty excited about.

We're gonna try to build this online community where people patients can come together online in these virtual meetings where they can share the strategies that have been helpful for them. And maybe even talk about the things that weren't helpful for them. So then maybe that gives people a better idea of what direction that they should move in. But all this is to say, that we're just trying to stack the deck, right? We want to give people the best possible chance. And a lot of times it's not one thing that helps. It's the combination of all these things.

Scott Webb: Yeah, I'm sure you're right. We all have probably met people along the way in our lives, who just said, yep, one day I just decided I was gonna quit smoking and I just quit and I never smoked again. But for every one of those doctor that I've met or spoken to along the way, the reality is for most people. Even when they want to quit, they desperately want to quit. It takes multiple attempts. It can take counseling and support groups and pharmacological intervention if you will. It really can take all of those things. And as you said, there's no reason to do this on your own, right. Aspire exists, medication exists, support groups are out there and we've all learned to zoom during COVID right? So there's a lot of ways to tackle this massive problem.

Dr. Michael Mooney: Absolutely, a hundred percent.

Scott Webb: So, if you could give folks one piece of advice, when you find out someone's a smoker and they need you to tell them something, something to let them know, reassure them that they're gonna be okay, that they can do this, that you're there to help. What would you say?

Dr. Michael Mooney: Like we said, there's probably not one magic bullet to solving a solution and it's different for everybody, but if I've got a couple minutes the strategy that I like to instill, I'd ask people would say, let me paint you a picture. Let's think six months down the road, you know, what is your life like as a non-smoker? You're not gonna need Ash trays. You're not gonna need lighters. Let's get rid of those things. And really work backwards and say, okay, where am I, associating my life with tobacco?

Where are my triggers, where the brain urges the person to reach for a cigarette. people have similar triggers, you know, certainly there's some unique triggers, but I find people talk about, oh, with my morning cup of coffee, I love having a cigarette with my coffee. They're commute to, and from work, that's a big place., after finishing meals. Sometimes it's, oh, that's my after dinner cigarette. And so, like we said, these people that are able to quit cold Turkey, I mean, that's amazing and kudos to those people. I don't find that to be the case.

I think for a lot of people, they feel like cold turkeys is very intimidating, beast to try to tackle. And so, if a person can sit down and be honest with themselves and say, okay, where are my triggers to smoke? And I'd say, work on one of those triggers at a time, take two weeks and learn how to have that morning cup of coffee without a cigarette in your hand. And after that two weeks goes by and you're able to tackle that move on to the next trigger. If you work through several of these triggers over a few weeks, few months, all of a sudden, it's this less intimidating thing where you already know how to get through a lot of your day without a cigarette.

And then it's just a matter about closing those gaps, finding what's the next trigger working on that. But really the best thing they can do is just continue to try. I mean, I know from personal experience, patients in my office, in my practice before I was in the Aspire Program, definitely since joining the Aspire Program, what I can tell the listeners is this is that if you want to quit smoking and you keep trying to quit smoking, you will get there. Those are the people. If you keep trying, you're gonna quit. And certainly, we wanna be a resource. So let us know how we can.

Scott Webb: We could talk probably all afternoon about the aspire program, but we want folks to be able to reach out to you and contact you. So how can listeners do that?

Dr. Michael Mooney: There's several ways and anything will work, but, you could give us a call we're available if you do an internet search you can find the Aspire Program and connect with us, through the website. And then the other thing of course is you can ask your doctor, ask your provider for a referral. So it's an easy order for any primary care provider to put through the system.

And we pick that up on our end and we can give you a call and find out what time works best for you. We have appointments, every day, Monday through Friday. We're very flexible with things and we want to be available. We realize, people work, people have jobs. And we try to be as available as we can.

Scott Webb: Yeah, as you say, Franciscanhealth.org, and just search aspire, and, folks can get a referral from their own primary. So really educational and fun today, doctor, thanks so much. You stay well.

Dr. Michael Mooney: Thanks for having me, Scott. Appreciate it.

Scott Webb: And you can request an appointment by calling 833-373-0360.

Or search Franciscan health.org/aspire.

 And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.