NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The Health Promotion Department of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) strongly encourages Sailors to take part and quit smoking in the Great American Smokeout Nov. 16.

The Great American Smokeout is a national program sponsored by the American Cancer Society. It is aimed at helping smokers set a specific date to quit smoking, and retain that commitment. This is the 30th year the Smokeout has been held.

Dr. Mark Long, health promotion program manager at NMCP, said anyone can quit if they put their mind to it.

“There are lots of places people can go (for help),” said Long, “like online programs, you can call a quit line and talk to a counselor, or you can go to medical and talk to your doctor.”

The Great American Smokeout is America’s most popular day to quit smoking, Long said. It has been very successful in raising awareness and educating people on the dangers of tobacco use.

“There are a lot of good reasons to quit smoking, whether it’s for money, your health, or even to save more time for yourself,” he said.

Trina Burkett, and employee at NMCP, and wife of a retired commander, was a smoker for about 35 years. At one and a half packs a day, that’s nearly 11,000 cigarettes and a cost of almost $60,000 over the course of her life. And that’s just the monetary cost of smoking.

Earlier this year, after chronic coughing and sinus pain, Burkett visited her doctor, who found a small polyp on her vocal chords, presumably caused by smoking, she said. That’s when her wake-up call to quit finally came.

“It scared me. (My doctor) said, ‘now you’re at the age where things you did when you were younger are going to start showing up,’” she said. “It’s not like (cancer) won’t happen to me, it’s a matter of when it would happen to me.”

Burkett has now been smoke free for four months, and said it has changed her life. Food tastes better, exercising is easier, and that nagging cough is long gone.

“It used to burn in my throat when I would run when I smoked. Of course, now, it doesn’t,” she said.

Burkett said she is happy with her decision to quit, and doesn’t think she’ll start again.

“This is something you do for yourself; this is something only you can do, no matter how much other people bug you (about quitting),” she said.

Aerographer Airman Deborah Snelgrove, a weather analyst at the Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Center at Naval Station Norfolk, has been smoking for a year. She said she started smoking because of peer pressure.

“There’re a lot of people who smoke, and it’s kind of a way to meet people. It can definitely be a stress reliever, too,” she said.

Snelgrove is trying to quit right now, but said her social situation makes that difficult.

“All the people you hang out with are smokers, so you’re always seeing it and people are always asking if you want to go smoke with them,” she said.

Snelgrove said she thinks the Great American Smokeout is a great opportunity for someone who is thinking about quitting to take the initiative, and said she may consider participating.

NMCP also offers several other avenues for tobacco cessation. For help, visit the American Cancer Society’s Web site at www.cancer.org, or call the Centers for Disease Control at 800-CDC-1311. Individual Navy medical centers also usually offer tobacco cessation classes to help smokers quit, often offering cessation aids, like nicotine gum, patches, or prescription drugs. To sign up for these classes, contact your medical provider.

For more news from around the fleet, visit www.navy.mil.