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“Quitting smoking is really hard!”
Is it really that difficult for people who have been smoking for a long time to quit smoking?
If people think once they set their mind to it, they can quit anytime with will power, they should think again.
Why are books with titles like “Strategies to quit smoking”, “Two hour tutorial on quitting” in high demand in bookstores in Korea?
If you want to stop smoking, join and receive advice from Asian Smokefree Communities.
 Christina, who currently works as an ASC coordinator,
previously worked in the Korean women’s health field.
“For the past nine years, I worked at WONS, where I was in charge of Korean women’s health.” Whilst opening cervical screening test clinics at Manurewa and Epsom twice a month, she personally did the cervical screening tests and educated women on women’s health, cervical screening and breast screen Aotearoa for example. “On top of this, I also worked as a practice nurse. But at present, I work as an Asian Smokefree Communities coordinator at Harbour Health.”
Christina’s work includes giving professional consultations and advice regarding quitting smoking and helping to create a smokefree environment at home, in the car or the workplace by visiting the home or the workplace. In addition, she also prescribes nicotine patches or gum and provides information in the form of booklets, pamphlets or stickers.
“When I immigrated to New Zealand 14 years ago, my eldest daughter was seven years old and my younger one was five. When I arrived here, I wanted to study English and work, however, because my daughters were still young, I was not able to find the time. So, whilst trying to find out how I can study at home, I found that you could study by correspondence. I took a distance learning medical terminology course from AUT. The assignments throughout the academic year were submitted through post and the end of year test was done over the phone, so this was the perfect course for me. I was able to look after my daughters and study at the same time.”
After an overseas nursing course, she gained the New Zealand nurse license in 1997. In 1999, she studied medical administration level 3 including Medtech 32 and took a practice nurse course. She also took a health promotion course at MIT and in 2004 took a translation course at AUT.
“When my daughters grew up and went to university, I wanted to have my own job. So, whenever I had the time, I studied courses that would help my job, one course after another. One day, unexpectedly, I got the chance to work part time at WONS. This opportunity gave me the chance to study more on relevant topics and gain precious experience. The health promotion and translation courses were the most difficult courses I attended. I cried a lot and thought about giving up throughout. However, now, thinking back, I think I had a lot of luck. I was able to complete each course well without failing, even thought it was hard.”
“Whilst doing this interview, the most prudent thing was not talking about the job I do but introducing myself. The only reason I have talked with courage about the studies I have done till this point and introduced the process in which I came to start this job however is, because I know everyone has difficult situations when starting something new. Since even a person like me overcame these difficult situations, I wanted to give courage to other people facing tough times while starting something new. From classmates to lecturers from different courses, the phrase I heard, not just once but a lot was “you have courage” or “you are so brave”. The meaning behind this sentence or at least what they were thinking as you can expect is “you are in this class with that level of English…!” Although I can laugh it off now, then, every time I heard it, I felt hot in the face and wanted to give up everything. But, I put in more effort, and in the end, I was able to complete the courses and learn about things I have always wanted to learn about.”
Before moving to Harbour Health, Christina worked at WONS for 5 years, holding cervical screening test clinics where around 1000 Korean women received tests. She said that the Korean community was missing out on a lot of health services due to language barriers and a lack of information. Therefore, she hoped that the number of Korean workers would increase so that Koreans are able to receive services without difficulty.
For a year starting from April 2006, ASC was started as a pilot project with a focus on the Asian communities in the North Shore. To date, 93 people have participated in this project and out of these people, 50 % were Korean. At present, many people have had success in quitting smoking. From July this year, the service will be extended to the whole WDHB area. It’s not just the people living in the North Shore who get to benefit from this project but also people in West Auckland.
Will power is the most important thing you need when trying to quit smoking.
After a year of working on this project, the conclusion I have reached is that professional consultations and advice, as with ASC, brings more success than trying to quit on your own or by using nicotine replacement therapy on its own.
Christina has felt the joy of working as an ASC coordinator. She has been preparing continuously to do what she has hoped to do, and finally, she is confidently working as a professional in the New Zealand community. What makes her more valuable is that she and her work are making a positive contribution not only to the Korean but the Asian community.
For further information:
If you want to participate in ASC, you can either ask a GP or a nurse for more information or contact the ASC coordinator Christina Lee directly on 448-0474 or 027 359-6880 to make an appointment.
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