The UW School of Medicine has received a new $10 million grant to help people quit smoking. The grant covers counseling, medications, and lab tests for 1,500 smokers. The grant will fund the second phase of a National Institutes of Health study launched in 2004. David Dell joined the study when it began and quit smoking in 2005. He says the free follow up testing the grant pays for helped keep him tobacco free. His latest series of tests was in August, "I did very well on the treadmill, they say. I made it all 12 minutes. I didn't fall off. The carotid arteries and that there. They're good. They're not half plugged or anything. Just a good incentive that you get checked out. You're doing better than you did seven years ago." The renewed grant covers six to 800 new participant smokers and allows those who began in 2004 whether they are smoking or not to continue the counseling, medications, and testing. Michael Fiore heads the UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. He says in addition to reducing the health costs associated with smoking the new federal grant will help boost the local economy, "What it says is that we are competitive enough to get one of the largest grants that they give. And with that money we will hire people to do the counseling, we will hire people to do all the testing, we will do all the lab results. So it really does a trickle effect through the local economy." Participants must be a Madison or Milwaukee resident to take part in the study. Researchers hope the results will help clinicians decide which mix of medication and counseling will best serve their patients who are trying to quit smoking. The UW School of Medicine has received a new 10 million dollar grant to help people quit smoking. The grant covers counseling medications and lab tests for 15 hundred smokers. Gilman Halsted has more.
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