OK Tobacco Helpline To Use Text, Email To Help People Quit Smoking

A new program at the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline (OTH) will now be able to get help tobacco users quit right from the palm of their hand through texts and emails.

The program was started on July 1, but OTH started its new ad campaign over the Labor Day weekend.

Tobacco users trying to kick the habit will start by getting three texts a week. If they need fewer messages, they can opt out, and if they need a little extra help on those tough craving days, they can get that too that too.

"As everything's moved online, people want that immediate, you know, instant gratification or that instant ability to connect with something or someone," Paola Klein said.

Klein is the OTH Program Coordinator.

“If you're going through a craving, you’re having a trigger, you put in a keyword and it'll text you a tip or trick to get through that,” Klein said.

The new program is being funded by the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust which gives about $3 million to the helpline each year.

Oklahoma is just one of two states using the texting program. It's already been set up in Minnesota for several years.

There’s also an added benefit to the program.

It may also help millennials who are trying to quit and already glued to their phones. Although Klein said that was not the goal of the texts or emails. She said it was about choice and ease.

“The hope is that, maybe moving more into this texting world we'll be able to get that younger demographic, but we're also finding that in [Minnesota] they're getting a range across the spectrum,” she said.