Description Comments

“Course To Quit Smoking Starts Tonight”

Object type

Image

More Info →

Description: These images are believed to have been taken for an article which was published in the July 23rd 1978 edition of the Tribune weekly newspaper – the images were not published with the text.

The article read: “A five day plan to quit smoking. That's what the Seventh Day Adventist Church is offering anyone in the Palmerston North area. The course starts tonight.

Pastor H. Miller, the church's district director and pastor of Longburn College, told the "Tribune" that such courses are run by the church all over the world. The courses have recently been adopted by the American Navy - proof of their effectiveness. He says that 80-85 percent of the people taking part in the courses usually stop smoking after attending the five consecutive meetings.

A similar course was held in Palmerston North last year by the church. Pastor Miller said the courses use group therapy, films and lectures to get their message across there will be no “shock tactics" - just the facts, he said. No drugs are included. The psychological and physical effects of smoking will be investigated in detail as part of the course, which starts in the Adventists’ Youth and Community Centre, 257-261 Ferguson St, Palmerston North, at 7 p.m. today. There is a $7 charge on those taking part, to cover the cost of the sessions.

Pastor Miller said that, such is the demand for the course in New Zealand, the film to be shown today is "booked up" for every other day of the year. Hospitals in Auckland and Sydney use the five-day session courses continually, he added. The courses are held as part of the church's community health programme, and are not aimed specifically at members of the church. Anyone can attend, and the church influence does not affect the proceedings at all, he added.
“No Adventist smokes, in any case, because we all know about the dangers." Pastor Miller illustrated some of the dangers; the one-packet-a-day smoker stands eight times the chance of contracting lung cancer than the non-smoker, he said. The risk for men who smoke two packets a day is 16 times greater. One person in 300 smokers will definitely get lung cancer. "And a lot of people don't realise that s non-smoker run* the same risks by being constantly in the company of smokers.”

Blood pressure, heart attacks, weakened respiratory systems, other cancers, ulcers ... all are induced or affected by smoking. Babies and asthma sufferers are particularly at risk. More young people, including primary-school children are now smoking than ever before, but the number of older smokers is dropping.

“We try to show individuals that they can live longer and happier lives without smoking. "People say ‘but smoking's my business' but they want hospitals and people to look after them when they get sick."

Pastor Miller said the aim of the course is to help individuals to want to give up smoking and then show them how it can be done. No drugs are involved in achieving this. Daily control booklets help former smokers to maintain their new resolve during their working and leisure hours.

Pastor Miller said his church also runs heart and weight control programmes as part of Its community health schemes, involving hospitals and universities around the world. Its hospitals in the United States lead that nation's heart research programme.”

These images form part of the Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection. Unfortunately, only negatives between April and December 1978 are held.