Campus News

Contest Offers Prizes for Beating Tobacco Addiction

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 14, 2015) – A new year can entice people to think about making resolutions and resolutions often involve improving one's health, like losing weight or quitting smoking. According to Ellen Hahn, professor at the UK College of Nursing and co-director of UK's Tobacco-free Campus Initiative, smoking is not simply a habit as it is so often referred to; it is a nicotine addiction. Tobacco smoke leads to an estimated 10,000 deaths every year in the state of Kentucky alone.

If you are an employee who smokes on the University of Kentucky campus and have been considering giving up smoking, now is your time, and there is a chance to win a substantial amount of cash. The UK Tobacco-free Campus Initiative, along with UK HealthCare, are sponsoring the Quit and Win Contest as a way to encourage UK employees to improve their health and quality of life. The contest, which runs from Jan. 16 to Feb. 16, is open only to UK faculty and staff, including employees of an affiliated corporation, who are 18 years of age or older and current tobacco users who have smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days. 

Debbie DeGonia, an Eastern State Hospital employee for nearly 10 years, started smoking 28 years ago when she worked at the Fayette County Jail.

"You were able to smoke inside buildings back then," DeGonia said. "I was saved from a lot of hostile inmates wanting to fight by the sharing of a cigarette. People would rather smoke than fight. The problem was I kept the habit after I left my job at the jail."

DeGonia's doctor has requested that she stop smoking for several years after she started noticing shortness of breath as a result of her smoking. She says she has considering stopping on several occasions but quickly ran out of motivation. When she saw the advertisement for the Quit and Win Contest, she knew she had found the motivation that might see her through to quitting for good.

"I get to quit smoking, have better breath, save over a hundred dollars a month, have a fresher smelling house and car, and I make my doctor happy. On top of all that I have a chance to win a nice little sum of money. I just can't pass this opportunity up. So February 16th I may be $1,000 richer or at least I will beat that nasty habit."

News of the Quit and Win Contest was first announced on UKNow in November. Contest prizes include one first place prize of $1,000; two second place prizes of $500 each; and two third place prizes of $250. Individuals can enroll in the contest through an online enrollment form. Individuals without internet access can enroll via phone by calling Amanda Fallin at 859-317-1673. Participants must verify their smoking status through exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) monitoring before the start of the contest. 

Registration and CO monitoring stations are set up across campus in various locations from Jan. 12 to Jan. 16. Participants will be required to sign up for a specific date, time and location to complete CO monitoring. Entrants who complete the online registration as well as the CO monitoring will receive an official notification of entry into the contest.

To be eligible to win the contest, participants should refrain from smoking and other tobacco use for the 30-day duration of the contest. Participants who wish to enter to win a prize must sign a document attesting that they did not use any tobacco products in the past 30 days (including traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, chew, pipes, cigars, hookah or waterpipe smoking, snus, snuff, etc.). In addition, participants who attest to not smoking must verify their CO in person between Feb. 16 and Feb. 19. 

Media Contact: Ann Blackford at 859-323-6442 or ann.blackford@uky.edu