​Waste Management made the decision to become completely smoke free at its national work sites, which includes three Otago region sites at Dunedin, Green Island and Oamaru.

In order to support its teams, Waste Management engaged the Southern Stop Smoking Service and supplied the space and time for their interested team members to attend meetings within work time. Rather than a group setting at Waste Management, coaches Jade Fraser and Liz Cadogan (North Otago) arranged to meet with the clients individually due to work shifts.

Waste Management Regional Manager Greg Nel said the company was committed to the health and well being of its employees, and has also extended support to team member’s families offering the space for them to also seek stop smoking support.

Waste Management Dunedin Compliance Coordinator Trudy Hutchison said she has been impressed by the commitment, reliability and the ease of engaging the Southern Stop Smoking Service.

Waste Management is a large company with more than 1,700 team members nationally and 52 in the Otago region at its Oamaru, Dunedin and Green Island sites. 15 of the Otago team smoke and seven have engaged with the Southern Stop Smoking Service.

Check out these fabulous staff member's stories!

Shane Welsh (Oamaru, Transfer Station Operator)
I started smoking about seven and a half years ago because all of my friends smoked. I was smoking up to 25 cigarettes a day and spending about $165 per week! 
I'd attempted to stop smoking before but I had no support. I was made aware that my workplace were offering stop smoking support and I knew it was working for my co-worker Alysha. It turns out it was good for me too! I started seeing Liz Cadogan and received some NRT, but I ended up going cold turkey. It's been just over one month now and I'm feeling much better and I'm enjoying the extra money. 
Being offered the support by my employer was great as it was nice to know someone else was caring for my health, and especially offering it in work time. I'm also enjoying the support of my co-worker Alysha who is going through the same programme, and the support of Greg Nel who has been checking in on me regularly.

Alysha Ryan (Oamaru, Weighbridge Attendant)
If I feel like smoking, I weed the garden or go for a walk instead!
My name is Alysha Ryan and I have been smoke free for six weeks. I'd been smoking for about 13 years but had recently started cutting down slowly on my own. I'd never been a heavy smoker - I only had about 6 per day.
So, when the opportunity of support from my workplace and the Southern Stop Smoking Service come up, I begged Trudy to let me attend. The support was fantastic and it was so great to not have to do it alone. The coach gave me patches and showed me how to use them. 
It was great to know my employers supported me and great to have the opportunity to go in work hours.
I'm saving about $50 a fortnight and with that money I am buying shoes! 

Frederick Garrick (Dunedin, Green Island Landfill Supervisor)  
I started smoking about 15 years ago when it was "cool" and I got hooked pretty quick. I was smoking about a 30gram per week and really enjoying the habit. That was until I started suffering from some health issues. 
I'd wanted to stop smoking before, I even stopped for two and a half years once but a traumatic experience led me back to it. 
I decided to switch cigarettes for vaping. I've been vaping for about two and a half years now and have been cutting down the nicotine content. Now, I need help to cut the nicotine completely as I know it could cause problems in the future.
It has been a good, cost effective alternative for me, although I do intend to stop vaping eventually. When Jade came to one of our toolbox meetings it was the right opportunity at the right time. The service offered is quite different to a lot of other operators. I feel that with the help of The Southern Stop Smoking Service I can achieve my goals  and I feel supported in my journey by both them and Waste Management.

Chris Macilquham (Dunedin, Driver)
I've been smoking for about eight years, but I would really like to stop.
I have recently started cutting down and have halved the amount I'd been smoking. I heard about the Southern Stop Smoking Service at my workplace and I thought it was a great opportunity! It came at a really good time as I wanted to stop anyway. It's great having the face-to-face contact with the coach. I look forward to being smoke free soon! 

A group of Port Otago staff members have joined together in their quest to become smoke free.

The group of five men come together through a weekly support network set up by the Southern Stop Smoking Service and aided by Port Otago, which have provided the time, place and support for their staff.

Otago Stop Smoking Coach Jade Fraser said the major benefit for the men was that their employer allowed time for them to attend. Being shift workers, they do not know when they will be working week-to-week. Therefore, booking time to see a stop smoking coach would have been too difficult. 

Port Otago People & Capability Advisor Christina Fricker said Port Otago set a Principle Goal which was to provide a healthy smoke-free workplace environment, support smoking cessation, and promote an organisational culture that normalises a smoke-free environment and encourages/supports staff who smoke, to become smoke-free by 30th June 2018. 

A smoke free policy was created to minimise workers exposure to the passive inhalation of harmful cigarette smoke and to reduce the dangers of smoking related fires, she said.  

Port Otago management also offered staff to attend a paid visit to their GP for advice and/or prescriptions and also extended support to employee's immediate family members.
 
"Port Otago celebrates the success of our workers, and to celebrate their journey to becoming smoke free, staff who attended the smoke free clinic will be given tickets to the rugby, including dinner, for them and their partners," Christina said.
 
Smoke free support will continue to be ongoing at Port Otago.
 
Check out some of their stories below!
​

Garry
Garry has been smoke free for four weeks and is enjoying spending more time with his family! Garry says his children would hassle him about smoking but he'd always brush it off until recently when he started thinking about his children growing up and being there for them. He decided he wanted to be healthier!  
Max
Max, who has been smoking for 54 years, was spending $175 per week on cigarettes and adding this back into his weekly income has been great. "It's like filling the truck up every week for free." Everything smells and tastes better, he says. Max has been smoke free for five weeks. 
Jeff
Jeff has been smoking for about 30 years and spending $155 per week. Seeing the yearly figure motivated Jeff to stop smoking, and the desire to watch his young girls grow up. Since stopping three weeks ago Jeff says he's able to enjoy playing with his children longer. 
Des
Des started smoking at the age of 10 and says, while he's determined, he has struggled to remain smoke free. He is enjoying having spare money on pay day and it is allowing him to live a better lifestyle, he says. Des has been smoke free for five days.  ​

​​I knew I needed to stop smoking when I fell pregnant, but I didn’t have the support I needed.

My name is Holly Kenny and I had been smoking for about two years and had never tried to stop. I was smoking about 7 or 8 cigarettes a day and spending about $60 per week.

I heard about the Southern Stop Smoking Service through a pregnant mother's group I am involved with, and decided to join along with five or six others. It was great! I finally felt I had the support that I’d been looking for. 

I haven't had a cigarette now in almost three months, and I don't think I would have stopped smoking if it hadn't been for the group!

I found it very beneficial being in a group as all of the women supported each other, and a great incentive was receiving the $20 gift vouchers from the Stop Smoking Service throughout. I'm enjoying saving the money I was spending on cigarettes, to be used in case I need something for my baby! 

My name is Joan Johnston, I live in Oamaru, and I have recently stopped smoking at the age of 80.

I have been smoking since I was in my late teens to help cure loneliness while my late husband was working long hours. It was a sort of companion; and while I’ve stopped twice over the years I’d always start again and the habit continued to become heavier.

But I’m pleased to say I am five months smoke free and I have well and truly kicked the habit this time with the help of the Southern Stop Smoking Service.

When I started smoking everyone around me was too – my husband, my siblings, my in-laws, and so I just carried on. It was the social thing to do. I would smoke up to 20 tailor-made cigarettes a day, and recently I was spending anywhere up to $200 a week.

I’ve been wanting to stop for good for a while for so many reasons including the price, my health and shortness of breath, but I didn’t have the professional support I needed to do it.

So, earlier this year when I was at the library and spotted the Southern Stop Smoking Service car outside I thought, this is it, it’s now or never! I approached the stop smoking coach and started the journey straight away.

The coach has been absolutely fantastic. She sits and talks with me around ways of getting past the cravings, and I know I couldn’t have done it if it hadn’t been for her. I found is hugely helpful that she would come to my house because I felt more confident and capable in my own surroundings. She gave me patches, lozenges and gum and I would often put on an extra patch if the cravings became too much – but I don’t need them at all anymore!

I’ve found several coping methods including jumping in the car and driving all the way to Timaru to see family, adopting a wee dog as a companion, and visiting with friends who don’t smoke. I’ve also been keeping myself pretty busy cooking meals for some workers each day, which I’m really enjoying.

My bank balance is starting to grow and I’m enjoying spending money I didn’t have before on luxuries such as getting my nails done. I feel so much better about myself and I’m sleeping much better.  

I believe stopping smoking this time was different because I had the support I needed.

I don’t even get cravings now. I think about it sometimes but it’s just a thought, not a craving. Walking away from smoking was a lot easier than I thought it would be.

With more than 200 years of smoking between them, a group of Bluff-based women have joined together in their quest to become smoke free.

The group of eight come together through a weekly support network set up by the Southern Stop Smoking Service and aided by Sanford Limited, which have provided the time, place and support for their staff.

Sanford Limited Bluff Site Manager Warren Crighton said Sanford were striving to become the employer of choice and wished to look after their staff, and ensure they maintain a healthy lifestyle.

“I see the damage that smoking does especially in later life when it is too late to reverse. Having independent expert people helping advise our people gives another view and help from wider experience and I think our people listen to that. This is evidence by several of our people who have already given up and the numbers of people who are interested.”

Having the service on site was a staff initiative, he said.

“The team came up with the initiative and I fully endorsed for it to go ahead. Our work force team have to take the credit for driving this.”

Speaking to five of the group in its tenth week, each agreed they would not have stopped smoking if it hadn’t been for the group, and were motivated to join when the sign went up at their workplace.

The group had been supportive and talked to each other daily and on weekends. There was no judgement, just encouragement, they said.

The group felt supported by the Southern Stop Smoking Service and said they’d each used different stop smoking aides, which included patches, gym, Zyban and Champix.

Most of those in the group had smoked for more than 40 years, and some had attempted to stop in the past. But it’s different now because it’s too expensive, they said.

The group dynamic will continue with most of the group planning to visit the gym next week.

One of the group’s members, Robyn, 67, said she started smoking when she was about 13 when cigarettes were advertised everywhere, everyone smoked, and they cost about 2 shillings for a 10-pack. But now, she is unable to retire and continue smoking due to the price.

I’ve smoked for the past 53 years without trying to stop once. I had never wanted to, I enjoyed the habit and smoked about 20 tailor-made cigarettes a day.

I was spending about $200 per week and $10,000 per year.

But I knew I needed to stop for my health. I wanted to retire but I wouldn’t have been able to afford to if I’d kept smoking. I’ve been wanting to stop all year but I didn’t have the guts.

When the list went up on the board at work to come to this group I thought about it on-and-off for about three weeks before adding my name.

I went to the doctor and got Zyban but I stopped taking it after nearly two weeks. After that, I picked my stop smoking date and that was it. I don’t even crave it or miss it anymore.

My breathing is better, food tastes better, everything is better now. The group has been great and I find it really helpful listening to everyone else’s stories.

I have been smoke free now for about seven weeks and I am going to retire next Christmas!