Quit smoking and you could win a car!

News Release
NWHU

(NW Region) Gerd O’Sullivan, Northwestern Health Unit Board of Health member for the Rainy River District Municipal Association, wants to quit smoking and she has decided to do it now. The timing is good because that makes her eligible to enter the fifth annual Driven to Quit Challenge, a health promotion quit smoking campaign hosted by the Canadian Cancer Society in support of a Smoke-Free Ontario. The Northwestern
Health Unit is a proud partner in The Challenge and they launched the contest in the region with information booths in Fort Frances and Dryden this week.
O’Sullivan decided to enter the contest and make a quit attempt for many reasons. As a Board member of the Health Unit and a retired nurse who worked for many years for the same organization, she certainly understands the health reasons for breaking her addiction; but she just received the gift of another grandchild, the first to her youngest child, and she wants to be around and to be healthy to see her grandson grow up. She has a pack-and-a-half-a-day habit and is a long-time smoker, and she knows she has a tough road ahead of her. But she is determined to do it, and has been convinced by her connection to the Health Unit to share her journey publically in hopes that she can encourage other smokers to do the same.
More than 228 people in the Northwest region have already committed to quit smoking this March by registering for the Driven to Quit Challenge. There is ample time for others to join them as registration is open until February 28, 2010, and if you register before January 31, 2010, you will be eligible for the early bird prize, a $1,000 MasterCard gift card.
Ontario adults can enter with a support buddy and pledge to quit smoking or tobacco use this March. Entrants who are successfully smoke free for the month of March have the chance to win a 2010 Ford Escape hybrid and one of two $5,000 vacation getaways. A $2,000 MasterCard gift card is exclusively reserved for one person in the Northwest region. Prizes are generously sponsored by McNeil Consumer Healthcare.
To register for The Challenge, Ontarians aged 19 and over can visit www.DrivenToQuit.ca or visit the Northwestern Health Unit for an entry form.