In California, Native Americans lack health equity:
Native American Nicotine Cessation Resources
TRIBAL RESOURCES
Contact: https://www.ca-tccc.org/
For more than two decades, American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) have maintained the highest prevalence of cigarette smoking compared to all other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Several American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes use tobacco for ceremonial, religious, or medicinal purpose. The quit smoking resources listed below are for quitting commercial tobacco.
The Tobacco-Free North Coast (TFNC) has gathered local, regional, state, and national cessation ("quit smoking" ) resources tailored for members of American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes.
Local Programs
Mendocino County: Consolidated Tribal Health Project, Inc. is committed to healthy lifestyles and honoring traditional Native American values to maintain physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social wellbeing of the community. https://www.cthp.org
Lake County: Lake County Tribal Health Consortium was established to improve the physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and social health status of the Native Americans of Lake County. In 2020, Lake County Tribal Health Consortium received a tobacco program grant to serve local Tribes and American Indians.
Humboldt and Del Norte Counties: United Indian Health Services (UIHS) works together with our clients and community, to achieve wellness through health services that reflect the traditional values of the local American Indian Community. UIHS’s NATIVE Tobacco Project focuses on working with Humboldt and Del Norte American Indian community members, tribal members, and tribal councils to reduce illness and premature death related to tobacco use. One way the Project accomplishes this is through tobacco cessation support and resources. http://unitedindianhealthservices.org/health-promotion-education/native-tobacco-project/
Regional Programs
The California Rural Indian Health Board (CRIHB) was formed to provide planning, advocacy, funding, training, technical assistance, coordination, fund raising, education, development and for the purpose of promoting unity and formulating common policy on Indian health care issues. CRIHB has a tobacco control program and cessation resources for Tribes in California.
https://crihb.org/tobacco-control/
The Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC) provides American Indian communities support and technical assistance by researching, developing and administering social and economic development programs. NCIDC has resources and tools based on the American Indian-specific Second Wind Tobacco Cessation Program.
https://ncidc.org/cessation-information-and-resources
The Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Education and Development, Inc. has a traditional wellness garden and education programs for American Indian communities in Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Marin, and Napa. https://ya-ka-ama.org
The Indian Child and Family Preservation Program has a tobacco prevention program and community wellness garden that serves tribes in Mendocino and Sonoma. https://www.icfpp.net/programs
California State-wide Program:
National Programs
The National Native Network Keep It Sacred provides tobacco program capacity building as well as cessation resources to all tribes in the United States.
https://keepitsacred.itcmi.org/cancer/prevention/commercial-tobacco-cessation/
COVID-19 disproportionately and tragically impacts Native Americans. Smoking or vaping increases risks.
Whether you’re exposed to viruses or not, the CDC estimated before this outbreak that an average of 1,300 people in the U.S. die every day due to smoking-related illnesses.
The good news is that you can reap the health benefits of quitting quickly, according to U.S. Surgeon General reports.
20 minutes after quitting: Your blood pressure drops to a level close to that before the last cigarette. The temperature of your hands and feet increases to normal.
12 hours after quitting: The carbon monoxide level in your blood begins to drop to normal.
24 hours after quitting: Your chance of a heart attack decreases.
2 weeks to 3 months after quitting: Your circulation and lung function improve.
1 to 9 months after quitting: Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue and shortness of breath decrease; cilia (tiny hair-like structures that move mucus out of the lungs) regain normal function in the lungs, increasing the ability to clean the lungs and reduce infection.
1 year after quitting: The excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a tobacco user.
5-15 years after quitting: Your stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker.
10 years after quitting: The lung cancer death rate is about half that of a continuing tobacco user. The risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decrease.
5 years after quitting: The risk of coronary heart disease falls to that of a non-smoker’s.
For free patches (while supplies last) and free culturally appropriate support via phone, text, chat: https://info.nobutts.org
