UGA Medical Student Lends Smokers a Hand

Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable disease and premature death in the United States.

Amy Martin, a second year medical student at UGA, is trying to help low-income, uninsured people in Athens quit the habit.

Each year, according to the Surgeon General, smoking kills an estimated 440,000 smokers and 38,000 more people who are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Martin researched the most effective techniques for reducing smoking in the Athens population, chose an approach, and advertised a class at the this past spring.

One student turned out. Despite the low showing, Martin said the experience was worthwhile because preparing for it motivated her to gather all of the necessary materials, including the Freshstart program.

The American Cancer Society’s Freshstart program is a teaching package with all of the essential information and strategies needed to help people help themselves.

“When I taught the class the second time, during the summer, we had ten patients. The setup for our program was four classes: contemplating quitting, planning to quit, actually quitting, and maintaining quitting,” Martin said. “We got to talk to the patients about their concerns and it almost became therapy for them. They liked coming.”

Martin used the basic Freshstart guides for herself and the participants, but tailored the discussion to her class’s needs.

“It became more of a discussion about what they wanted to talk about and what really drives people to smoke and why they should quit,” Martin said.

Martin began the smoking cessation project last spring along with some classmates from the Georgia Health Sciences University – University of Georgia Medical Partnership. Although some people might have given up after failing to draw a crowd the first time out, Martin kept going after classes ended in May.

“I was really passionate about it in my first school year and I wanted to make it work for the Nurses Clinic,” Martin said about the smoking cessation effort. Paige [Cummings], the clinic director, felt the same.

“She had a large number of smoking patients in her clinic and a large number of them were on respiratory medications,” said Martin.

The stakes are high for society as well as individuals.

National statistics show that 30 percent of cancer deaths, including 87 percent of lung cancer deaths, can be attributed to tobacco.

The Athens Nurses Clinic and UGA medical students are keeping the effort going.

The first-year medical students this year are doing the follow up with patients from the smoking classes. They’re teaching their own class in a couple of weeks but they’re also checking in with people who Itook the class in the summer to see how they’ve been doing, Martin said.

Martin described her volunteer work at the Athens Nurses Clinic at last month's Medical Partnership Student Research Symposium. It showcased activities of the UGA medical students during their summer between the first and second year of their medical studies.