Tobacco soup makes graphic statement on smoking harm

September 5th, 2013
[by David Armstrong]

Tobacco soup was on the menu for the lunchtime meeting of the Community & Whanau collective yesterday as service providers heard of the work of the Whanau Ora team at Te Awhina Marae.

Demonstrating a powerful hands-on presentation that is used by the team for its quit-smoking programme, Raylene Bradley showed how easy it is to graphically show how disgustingly harmful smoking is to our bodies.

Raylene got to the floor with her bucket of often surprising ingredients that go into the manufacture of cigarettes, including several poisons, commercial and domestic cleaning agents, glues and other additives. (See photo, right.)

Each ingredient comes with a card explaining the harmful nature of the substance and why it is added to the manufacturing process - usually to make the fags more tasteful and burning better controlled while addiction sets in.

The reaction of the audience of 26 showed why this teaching technique can be so successful in engaging the emotions of smokers who ask the Whanau Ora team to help them quit the habit.

Raylene said much of her work involved taking the demonstration to groups, and then following up all participants wanting to quit, with programmes including nicotine patches and gum to help the weaning process.

Agencies can refer clients groups to go through a 12-month programme that includes regular follow-ups.

Two other members of the Marae's Whanau Ora team spoke of the health programmes currently they offer. Anna Hart, a Whanau Ora nurse, said her main job was to help people coming to them to understand health and how to be healthier, rather than just to address specific current ailments.

She said about half of the people she sees are mainly concerned about diabetes and/or weight loss. She also runs a monthly group for grandparents who have taken on the role of raising grandchildren, and other courses such as simple cooking.

Jackie Benjamen said that, contrary to a common perception, Whanau Ora (family health) is open to anyone, not just Maori, but it works within a Kaupapa Maori approach, based on Maori philosophy. "The key is involving whanau in the solution," she said. Patients can be referred by other agencies, of simply self-refer.

Her specific work also includes managing services for drug and alcohol abuse.

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