Workers at the Braga Local Health Unit already have appointments to stop smoking

Braga Hospital held, on the 21st, the first smoking cessation consultation for its workers, included in Occupational Medicine, in conjunction with the institution’s Pulmonology Service.

In a statement, the hospital said that the new consultation will take place once a month and appears as a way of “response to the high percentage of employees who smoke at the institution”.

Quoted in the statement, Álvaro Oliveira, coordinator of the Occupational Medicine Office at Braga Hospital, explains that “this process begins with the consultations that the Occupational Medicine Service carries out on a daily basis”. After being signaled, “professionals who meet the necessary conditions and who express a desire to stop smoking are asked to collaborate with Pulmonologist João Cruz, responsible for the smoking cessation consultation”.

The implementation of the new smoking cessation consultation results from a “long-standing tradition of the Pulmonology Service in this area of ​​support for smokers, with many initiatives and collaborations, particularly with the University of Minho, over several years. This coordination between the Services has been desired for a long time, and what we want is to respond to the needs of our employees”, says Rui Rolo, director of the Pulmonology Service at ULS in Braga, in the statement.

Marta Costa, a nurse at the Braga hospital, has been a smoker for over 25 years and was the first user of the new smoking cessation consultation for employees.

The Professional expressed her intention to stop smoking, which led to this request for help. “I went to Occupational Medicine because I really want to stop smoking and this support comes at the right time. The process was quite simple, which I consider to be important to not lose motivation”, said the nurse, who considered the initiative “an added value for all employees who want to stop smoking”, she says, quoted in the note.

Smoking cessation consultations for users have already been carried out in the Family Health Units of the Braga Local Health Unit for around 20 years, in a personalized register, where users find medical support and begin their journey to stop smoking.

In this sense, Braga Hospital decided to extend consultation to the institution’s professionals, in what promises to be a model that will make an important contribution to the physical and psychological well-being of workers.