Smoking-Cessation Program Ignites National Interest
health care, heritage medical center, hospitals,
After serving for many years as an accomplished lung care specialist, Dr. Frederic Seifer felt he could do more.
Voted the best physician in his community and landing several regional awards, Seifer, nevertheless, says he “started feeling like I was just doing Band-Aids. I felt that if I did my job better, I wouldn’t be taking care of sick patients dying in the Intensive Care Unit.”
Seifer channeled his energy into creating a breakthrough smoking cessation program. Now based at Heritage Medical Center in Shelbyville, the program is drawing national attention for its unprecedented success rates in beating the notoriously hard-to-overcome addiction.
The Health-Status Improvement Program helps patients addicted to cigarettes or chewing tobacco quit for good. It has an unprecedented 85 percent success rate after six months, Seifer says.
Key to his program is establishing a “dynamic dialogue” that is often missing between patients and busy doctors. Seifer establishes this the moment a patient walks into his office.
“I say I’m going to do my job,” Seifer says. “I’m not going to give up on you. I’m going to stand there at the batter’s mound and keep pitching as long as you want to keep hitting.”
That moment of establishing trust – and convincing patients that he will not give up on them – is key to any smoking cessation program’s ultimate success, he says.
Seifer tells patients that they are inhaling 4,000 chemicals with each cigarette puff.
Only one of these chemicals – nicotine – is actually addictive.
He suggests for the first week they switch to a lower-nicotine cigarette brand and smoke all they want. The second week, he might suggest an even lower nicotine brand, or medication. By the time Seifer and his patient set a quit date, he is reasonably confident the patient is ready to physically and psychologically kick the habit.
Seifer has been practicing at Heritage Medical Center since early 2009. A new chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or lung disease, screening tool created by Dr. Seifer for the general population is being piloted in Shelbyville and soon may be used by hospitals across the country, he says.
Dr. Seifer and other physicians have been drawn to Shelbyville’s new $52 million medical center.
“This really is the right size canvas for me to do what I want to do,” he says.
“There’s no reason Shelbyville can’t be known for pencils, walking horses – and as a leader in health care.”
Story by Anita Wadhwani
