Abdul Salam (39 years of age) initially came in contact with the health trainers project at a community outreach event (London Baishaki Mela) in May 2010. Mr Salam has been smoking 20 cigarettes per day since the age of 19, he would like to quit smoking to live longer and to avoid a slow agonising death due to smoking. I provided Mr Salam with one-to-one motivational support and also with nicotine replacement therapy. In his past experience Mr Salam used NRT patches to quit smoking but he did not succeed, he did not want to use NRT products then I gave him the option of using Champix . He took an interest to use Champix therefore I referred him to the Level 3 smoking cessation clinic and I continued supporting Mr Salam. On this occasion he did not quit smoking however he did cut down to ten cigarettes per day and he is continuing his battle against cigarettes.
Abdul Salam’s statement:
I came across the smoking cessation service run from the osmani centre, during the Bangladeshi mela in Tower Hamlets . I think it was a very good idea, of the service, to take a stall in the mela , and any other public arena, as, otherwise I would never have heard of this very useful and much needed service .
I also appreciate the amount of help, and the personal interest taken by ms Shajue Begum, I received in order to start the whole process of stopping a very bad and unhealthy habit .
I felt that she not only wanted to see me stop, but also tried to get an understanding of WHY I smoked , in the first place . She was informative, clearly educated in her chosen field, and also incredibly passionate about her work. I would not hesitate to recommend this very valuable and potentially lifesaving service to others around me, who are also ready to stop smoking.
Thank you