Since Indiana has the fifth highest smoking rate in the United States, Indiana's government leaders established a task force with a vision to significantly improve the health of Hoosiers (Indiana residents) and to reduce the disease and economic burden that tobacco use places on Hoosiers of all ages.

The Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (ITPC) task force is working with other agencies and faith groups to accomplish 19 objectives (see www.ingov/itpc/Program.asp). A significant achievement occurred on March 1, 2006, when Indianapolis and two adjacent communities implemented a smoke-free air policy, joining a growing list of cities with similar health goals. This new law will affect many workplaces, restaurants, government centers, health care facilities, laundromats, and licensed childcare and adult daycare facilities.

In conjunction with this milestone, a two-day conference was held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Visioning a Tobacco-Free Community was planned to bring faith leaders together to share information and to challenge them to continue reaching out to their communities in the area of tobacco cessation and prevention. Nearly 500 people attended the two-day event.

As a result of the contacts established by the Indiana Conference health ministries director and Anderson Church members, Ron Kelly, Cicero Church senior pastor, was invited by Cecilia Williams, a member of the ITPC advisory board, to serve on a panel of four at a breakout session at the event. Each panelist was given an opportunity to speak for ten minutes. Ron said, "I was very proud to be able to tell all these people that in 1959, five years before the United States surgeon general would declare that smoking might be a risk to your health, a Seventh-day Adventist physician (J. Wayne McFarland) and clergyman (Elman J. Folkenberg) initiated practical and very popular smoking cessation programs."

A question and answer time followed the panelists' presentations. Since Ron was the only panelist who represented a faith-based smoking cessation program, he was granted time to share the history of the Seventh-day Adventist smoking cessation programs, their philosophical underpinnings, and the practical behavior modification methods incorporated. He said, "I had several good conversations with people from the audience following the panel discussion."

In other workshops, presenters provided information about smoke-free workplace ordinances, as well as smoke-free Sabbath programs, youth prevention, and other smoking cessation programs.

Ron said, "It was a very positive experience and allowed me to interact with community leaders. I'm glad for the opportunity it opened up."

The Cicero Church is known in its community for offering smoking cessation programs and other programs to enhance quality of life. They have also offered programs in Tipton, a community north of Cicero, and have conducted classes in area businesses at their invitation. Other Indiana churches have also impacted their communities with stop-smoking classes.

Breathe-Free classes take nicotine-dependent individuals and lead them through a program designed to break the tobacco habit and set them on the path to better health practices. The Breathe-Free program is now used in more than 50 countries.

For information about conducting smoking cessation programs in your community, contact your local conference health ministries director.

Diane Thurber is the Lake Union Herald managing editor.