Here are some resources available to you if you are thinking about quitting smoking or vaping.
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FREE telephone counseling and Zoom sessions are available by calling 1-866-NEW-LUNG (1-866-639-5864) or visiting NEW LUNG to sign up for a one-hour session. FREE nicotine patches are available for adults 18 and older after they complete the service. Nicotine patches can be mailed to participants’ home.
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Free Quit Smoking and Quit Vaping e-books
Smoke & Tobacco Free Campus
OCC moves to smoke and tobacco-free campus starting Fall 2020
OCC cares. We want to create a healthy environment for all those who visit our campus. We know that smoke and tobacco are a major cause and contributor to early death due to their part in the development of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and other conditions. The students, faculty, staff, and administrators of OCC are happy to announce that we are now a 100% smoke and tobacco-free campus.
While we might not support smoking on campus, we want to support smokers. We have free resources for those who want to quit. The OCC Student Health Center is providing free smoking cessation services, including an individualized program for participants to develop quit strategies and helpful follow-ups. Sessions are confidential, free, and open to all OCC students and employees.
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The Coast Community College Administrative Procedure (AP) 3570 states, "Smoking and tobacco use are prohibited on all Orange Coast College property, including in all buildings, student housing, exterior open spaces, parking lots, on-campus sidewalks, stadiums, recreational spaces, and practice facilities. Smoking and tobacco use are prohibited in all District-owned or leased vehicles."
"Smoking is the heating, burning, or vaporizing of any material to be inhaled. This includes, but is not limited to, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (vaping), cigars, hookahs, and pipes. Tobacco use includes the use of any tobacco or tobacco-like product, chewing tobacco, or tobacco substitute such as vaping liquids."
Vaping Health Advisory
The Student Health Center (SHC) is committed to promoting and creating a healthy campus environment for all to learn and work at Orange Coast College. Due to recent reports of sudden, severe lung illness and deaths associated with electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), the SHC seeks to inform our campus community about the dangers of vaping. Vaping refers to the practice of inhaling aerosol emitted from an e-cigarette device (i.e., "vape pens", "vapes", "mods", "JUULs"), which heats a liquid that may contain various flavorings, nicotine, marijuana (THC), cannabis (CBD), heavy metals, and other potentially harmful chemicals.
As of February 18, 2020, there have been a total of 2,807 cases across the U.S of individuals hospitalized for severe breathing problems and lung damage associated with the use of e-cigarettes, including eighteen confirmed deaths. Patients reported the following symptoms a few days or a weeks after e-cigarette use:
- Cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain
- Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
- Fatigue, fever, or weight loss
The SHC urges everyone to refrain from using e-cigarettes. This recommendation is especially critical for those who have never used or do not currently use tobacco products, youth, young adults, and pregnant women. Among those hospitalized in California, nearly half were teenagers and young adults and 30% were treated with a mechanical ventilator, or "life support," in the intensive care unit.
All individuals are at risk of lung damage when they inhale a foreign substance into their lungs. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms and have recently used, or are currently using, an e-cigarette product, please seek care from your healthcare provider or visit the SHC (714-432-5808).
Cessation resources for those wishing to quit smoking/vaping are available at no cost at the SHC in partnership with the Orange County Health Care Agency Tobacco Use and Prevention Program.
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1-866-NEW-LUNG (639-5864). Free tobacco quitting services and nicotine patches for teens and adults are available throughout Orange County in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Please view Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information about the dangers of vaping and weekly case updates on the multi-state outbreak of lung injury.