UWM Center Helps a Quitter Go Smoke Free

Charles Henderson quit with help from Kim Ryan (center) of UWM's Silver Spring Community Nursing Center and UW-CTRI's Mary Balistreri (right).

Photo courtesy UW-CTRI

"I don't think I could've quit without the help of the patch and support from family," said Henderson, who has two children, Charles, Jr., 20, and Denzelle, 13. "I didn't have any income and it was free. I was so happy that the clinic offered that to me. I feel much better now that I quit smoking."

Henderson, 54, had smoked for 43 years, but he had found the determination to finally quit from his son, Denzelle

"Denzelle would say, ‘DAAAAD, I thought you said you were going to quit!'" Henderson said.

"I feel good about quitting all the way around. I'm determined not to smoke the rest of my life," says Henderson.

Henderson got his chance when Mary Balistreri, an outreach specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (CTRI), went to clinics like the one at Silver Spring Community Center to offer free medication and to provide training and technical assistance to healthcare providers. Charles made the most of his opportunity and quit.

"This is a great resource for us," said Kim Ryan, family nurse practitioner and member of the clinical faculty at UW-Milwaukee. "Many of our patients are underinsured or uninsured. We appreciate the support of the UW-CTRI staff and the Wisconsin Tobacco Quit Line." Barbara Bowden, another family nurse practitioner, was also involved in supporting Henderson's efforts to quit.

Henderson said he would recommend the patch program and Quit Line to others who find it hard to access treatment. "I would tell them to try to get their mindset right and reach out for any assistance they can get to help them quit. It's a hard process. But now I'm able to breathe much better, walk better."

The CTRI provided free patches to more than 3,000 uninsured or underinsured Wisconsin smokers in 2004 through 58 clinics and 25 organizations.

For more information, go to CTRI's Smokers section.

Adapted, with permission, from the UW-Madison CTRI website.