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Excerpts from: Verizon Wireless Encourages Employees to Quit -- Smoking

PRNewswire [08/14/02]

First Corporation to Join American Cancer Society Worksite Initiative
To Offer Smoking Cessation Support in the Workplace

BEDMINSTER, N.J., -- The American Cancer Society
today announced that Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider,
is the first company in the nation to offer the Society's tobacco cessation
services in worksites across the country to help employees quit smoking and
prevent productivity loss, absenteeism and increased health care costs
associated with tobacco-related illness.
"The cigarette tax increases in many parts of the country are motivating
smokers to quit," said Donald Distasio, Chief Executive Officer, American
Cancer Society of NY & NJ. "By bringing tobacco cessation to the workplace,
we can meet the increased demand for help in a convenient location, reach
large groups of people and help a visionary company like Verizon Wireless to
create a healthy work environment and reduce cancer risk among employees."
Verizon Wireless employees have been trained by American Cancer Society
experts to offer smoking cessation support programs at select company
locations nationwide*. Verizon Wireless smoking cessation counselors are also
featured in a public billboard campaign to encourage other corporations to
follow Verizon Wireless's leadership in providing on-site resources to help
employees who choose to quit smoking. The billboards, "Smokefree Facilities.
Smokefree Employees.", are up on heavily traveled roads in Jersey City on
Kennedy Boulevard and at Routes 130 and 33 in Hamilton, N.J. until October
2002.
"We care about employees' health and we believe this program can help
those who want to stop using tobacco products," said Head Coach Mark Monteyne,
who oversees the Verizon Wireless Health and Wellness program. "This is one
of the many benefits we offer our employees - from outstanding health and
wellness programs to excellent medical benefits and compensation. It's yet
another reason that Verizon Wireless is a great place to work."
"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tobacco use
costs $100 billion per year in health care expenditures and is responsible for
one of every five deaths in the United States - 430,000 per year. A 1999
Towers Perrin study also reported that annual employee costs are $1,500 higher
for employees who smoke due to lost productivity, absenteeism and health
care," Mr. Distasio said. "We are eager to work with companies like Verizon
Wireless to help develop policies that create a healthy workplace environment.
Programs such as Verizon Wireless' tobacco cessation service further helps
employees who are trying to quit by providing them with a setting where they
are not tempted to relapse."
The American Cancer Society is working to replicate similar projects with
other large employers across the country to bring up-to-date information on
cancer prevention, detection and treatment to employees at their workplace.
The goal of the program is to work with employers to promote healthy lifestyle
choices that can reduce cancer risk and increase the number of people who have
cancer screenings in accordance with American Cancer Society guidelines.
The American Cancer Society's smoking cessation support program and the
billboard campaign are funded, in part, by a grant from the New Jersey
Department of Health and Senior Services' Comprehensive Tobacco Control
Program.
For more information about the American Cancer Society's efforts to fight
cancer in the workplace, call 1-800-ACS-2345.