SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The New York State Department of Health has awarded St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center a grant of $3 million over the next five years to help people quit smoking.
The Central New York Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems at St. Joseph’s will help the facility “remain focused on its tobacco-cessation efforts for at least the next five years.”
The state Health Department awarded two grants to the center, which will help it focus efforts on a larger, 14-county area from the Pennsylvania state line to the Canadian border, St. Joseph’s said in a news release issued last week.
“We are very excited to have the state’s support once again,” Christopher Owens, director of the Central New York Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems, said in the release. “We will use these grants to focus on policy change and adoption at healthcare organizations, especially at federally qualified health clinics and in mental health settings.”
Similar grants have supported the efforts of the Central New York Regional Center for Tobacco Health Systems since 2004, the hospital said.
The center provides support and assistance to area health-care providers in their efforts to help patients quit tobacco, St. Joseph’s said.
It offers educational sessions for physicians and staff, patient-education materials and assistance to health-care organizations as they initiate and continue tobacco-free grounds and treatment policies.