Page 46 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

Awards Participants and witnesses Small story for smoking cessation Second prize NT$60,000 Participants: Mr. Lin, currently aged 70, started smoking at the age of 13 and has been smoking for 57 years, and smoked 30 cigarettes per day with a maximum of 30 cigarettes. Witness: Ms. Huang, a non-smoker who is currently at the age of 71. Relation: husband and wife From Kaohsiung City Mr. Lin, 70, smoked one pack and a half per day. He graduated from elementary school and started a job in ship dismantling. He followed the smoking habits of adults and has been smoking for 57 years. Witness Mrs. Lin has always wanted him to quit smoking. Mr. Lin tried to quit smoking in the past, but relapsed within a few days. This time he plans to quit smoking as he was informed of the stop smoking competition by the public health center. His wife also often complained of the smoke odor, and his son also wishes him to quit smoking. Thus, he now decided to participate in the stop smoking competition to pray for his son's police officer examination on June 9 and 10. When I have a smoke craving, I would have Licorice Menthol or ginseng in my mouth, or eat a little caramel for craving relief. Fortunately, I have already retired and can be away from smoking colleagues in order to successfully quit smoking," said Mr. Lin. Mr. Lin indicated that the largest difference after quitting smoking is that his "coughing" went away, and very little sputum is produced, and now he no longer needs to find his cigarette first thing in the morning anymore. He said that everyone can quit smoking as even a person who smoked for so long had succeeded in smoking cessation. Second prize NT$60,000 Participants: Ms. Fan, aged 25, started smoking at the age of 12 and has been smoking for 13 years, and smoked 5 cigarettes per day with a maximum of 12 cigarettes. Witness: Ms. Wang, a non-smoker who is currently at the age of 30. Relation: Couple From Hualien county Ms. Fan is a career soldier with the age of 25, and has been smoking for 13 years since she started smoking in junior high when she was urged by her friends. In the past, Ms. Fan tried to quit smoking many times, but failed every time as she could not find other ways to relieve pressure. In mid-April, 2019, someone placed a registration form for the "Quit & Win" stop smoking competition on Ms. Fan's desk. She decided to give herself another chance, and planned on smoking cessation again under the encouragement of her witness Ms. Wang. When Ms. Fan was serving in the military, she felt mentally unhappy in the first few days of smoking cessation, but was often encouraged by her witness Ms. Wang when she felt helpless, which gave her confidence. In addition, her smoking friends cared for her and deliberately did not smoke in front of her when they were informed that Ms. Fan was participating in the stop smoking competition. After the first two difficult weeks on smoking cessation, she not only discovered that she had a wonderful feeling of vitality and well-being, but also realized that smoking was not beneficial and costs a lot of money. Ms. Fan also hoped to no longer smoke in her future life! Second prize NT$60,000 Participants: Mr. Chuang, aged 36, started smoking at the age of 14 and has been smoking for 22 years, and smoked 10 cigarettes per day with a maximum of 20 cigarettes. Witness: Ms. Su, a non-smoker who is currently at the age of 37. Relation: husband and wife From New Taipei City Mr. Chuang, who worked in the electronics industry, started smoking at the age of 14 by the urging of his friends, and has since been smoking for 22 years. He smoked at least half a pack of cigarettes per day. Although he controlled the amount of cigarettes, he still could not kick the cigarette habit for good. He and his wife had been a couple for seven years before their marriage, and were married for three years. Mr. Chuang has always wanted to quit smoking, and his wife often tried to persuade him to do it. He is a frequent visitor to "E-quit.org", and also signed up for the 2016 stop smoking competition and had temporarily stopped smoking for 3 months, but relapsed as he did not find other ways to relieve his pressure in the R&D department, and almost all his surrounding friends smoke. He decided to register for the Quit & Win competition as he wanted to give himself a chance and did not want his wife to worry about him any more. He began the smoking cessation in April 2019. He relied on his willpower, read books to divert attention away from his smoke craving, or went on the website "e-quit.org" and followed the "four tips to quit smoking" by taking deep breaths to lessen his discomfort. Mr. Chuang's wife, who served as a witness, encouraged him to quit smoking after she was informed that her husband had passed the initial inspection by the local health department, and immediately told him that the prize money will be entirely his if he won the competition! 44