BOP tops quit
smoking rate in NZ
The Bay of Plenty’s free Stop Smoking Support
service, Hāpainga remains top of the country
for its successful quit smoking rate.
New Zealand has 16 Stop Smoking Support services. As part of
the Government’s goal of Smokefree Aotearoa 2025, each service
is required to record the number of clients who are deemed to
have successfully quit smoking meaning they are ‘smokefree’ four
weeks after their set quit date.
Hāpainga Team Leader Lizzie Spence says “Our smoking
cessation practitioners use a carbon monoxide detector, a bit like
a breathalyser at four weeks. Low to nil levels of carbon monoxide
shows the person is smokefree.”
Left to right: Tauranga Hospital Midwife, Safe Sleep & Smoking Cessation
Coordinator Natasha Rawiri, WBOPPHO Health Promoter Tiana Bennett, and
BOPDHB Planning & Funding Portfolio Manager Roimata Timutimu. The trio from
the Western Bay Smokefree Coalition attended the Pink Ribbon Breakfast hosted
by Waipu Hauora on WSFD, making the connection to smoking and breast cancer.
Talk Teeth team
up for teens
Latest Ministry of Health results shows Bay of Plenty is the top
performer across the country with a 75% successful quit smoking
rate at 4 weeks.
Lizzie Spence says the service has been in the top spot for the
last 12 months. She says it is great news for the team of five
practitioners who support people to quit smoking across the
Western and Eastern Bay of Plenty.
Lizzie says, “The small team really focuses on treating each
client as an individual. Quitting smoking is a real journey. Our
team might meet with a client several times before they set a quit
date. Building a rapport and trust with them is quite crucial to the
successful outcome.”
The DHB’s Oral Health Promotion Team
recently teamed up with the Eastern Bay
Primary Health Alliance’s Hāpainga Stop
Smoking service and school based nurses
running a smokefree and oral health
competition aimed at local teenagers.
As part of World Smokefree Day and Youth week celebrations,
all Eastern Bay secondary school students where given the
opportunity to be involved with the ‘Stop before you start’
competition that had students identify some cleverly edited
snapchat filtered photos of school staff members, New Zealand
sporting heroes and celebrities. They were also asked to answer
a few simple dental and smokefree questions, while being advised
about local quit smoking support services and the opportunity
to be supported to access free dental check-ups. Students who
identified all 8 photos correctly were then placed in the draw, with
over 200 entries being received.
Smokefree and oral health competition winner Trident High School student
James Burke presented with a $250 voucher from Hāpainga team members,
Stevie-Lee Hiroki and Monique Rio.
The Hāpainga Team pictured left to right: Lizzie Spence, Kate Warner, Stevie-Lee
Hiroki, Water Harawera, Candy Blackwell and Monique Rio.
Call 0800 HĀPAINGA (427246)
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