North American Chinatown Smoke Free Day

North American Chinatown Smoke Free day this year will be September 30 th . This year we have

held meetings with Asian and Immigrant Communities Against Smoking (AICAS) Partnership,

which includes the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), to

promote cigarette cessation and treatment. We will circulate materials to CAMS and CAIPA

members to promote NACSFD and encourage patients to quit cigarette smoking, provide

medication treatment guide and guidelines for Low Dose CT screening (LDCT), and organize

webinars for healthcare providers on the East Coast including New York and Toronto, and West

Coast including San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. We will also be asking our partners

in San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Toronto to update their respective smoking

cessation materials and resources. Furthermore, we plan to participate in 8th Annual World

Health Qigong Day on September 14th by having a booth to provide smoking cessation

materials. We will be partnering with the Chinese American Dental Association to provide oral

cancer screening at this event.

North American Chinatown Smoke Free Day (NACSFD) started in 2016, after a discussion with

Charles B. Wang Community Health Center (CBWCHC) that noted alarming statistics affecting

Chinese males in New York City. Data showed that overall lung cancer deaths were declining

in New York City in all other racial group while there was an alarming 70% increase in Chinese

New Yorkers. CAMS and CBWCHC drafted a statement of needs and applied for a grant to the

Federation of Chinese American Medical and Chinese Canadian Medical Societies Foundation

to start the NACSFD project to raise awareness of smoking related risks, encourage community

members to seek smoking cessation services and mobilize local communities to take action

against this health disparity affecting the Chinese community. We coordinated with San

Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles and Toronto with this project. We designated the last Monday

in September to be the official NACSFD but we organized events around the date to promote

cigarette cessation. For the communities, we have provided bilingual workshops, health fairs,

screening including pulmonary testing, quit smoking resources such as bilingual American

Smokers Quitline (ASQ), Chinese radio and television programs. For the professionals, we

have organized webinars on how to motivate patients to quit, medication guides, billing

information and guidelines for low dose CT screening.

As we continue our efforts, we invite the community and healthcare professionals to join us in

this important work. Together, we can reduce the harmful effects of smoking and improve the

health and well-being of Chinatown communities across North America.