Taking Charge of Your Health
How St. John's Can Help

Breaking the Habit: Pat’s Story

Last year, Pat Toney decided it was time to make some changes in her life.
The 43-year-old senior data control analyst and single mom of two teenage girls realized that if she didn’t take charge of her health, no one would.
Another incentive to kick the habit, she says, was the fact that her employer, Premier Health Plans, had recently introduced the St. John’s MyChoice health insurance plan, which offers significant premium discounts to policyholders who are tobacco-free and meet certain other health requirements.
Toney smoked half a pack a day for about 15 years, she says, and quit “four or five times over the years.” She adds that she didn’t smoke when she was pregnant and she never smoked in the house or around her girls.
“Smoking was like an old friend to me,” Toney says. “I was a single mom and going outside to have a cigarette every so often gave me a few moments to myself that I otherwise wouldn’t have taken.”
When Toney decided to quit for good, she enlisted the help of St. John’s Road to Freedom Smoking Cessation program. There, she learned how to relax without tobacco.
“What I liked most about Road to Freedom was the fact that they offer you so many tools to help you quit,” Toney says. “The staff was wonderful, and the whole program seemed like a great reward system for not smoking.”
Road to Freedom includes consultations with tobacco-cessation counselors, hot stone massages, essential oil treatments, auriculotherapy, if indicated may also include medication and nicotine replacement therapy such as patches or gum. Toney participated in Road to Freedom for about three months.
“I don’t like to take medicine, so I didn’t utilize that part of the program. But I loved the massages, oils and auriculotherapy, which involves electrostimulation of the ear,” she says.
Tobacco-free for eight months, Toney says her life is quite different now – thanks in part to St. John’s.
“I have more energy. Things smell and taste better, and I smell better,” she says, smiling. “I also have more time to do things I enjoy, like hiking at the Buffalo River in Arkansas, which I can do without getting winded now! I feel so empowered … I’ve really taken charge of my health, and my life.”

Do need help kicking your tobacco habit? St. John’s is here for you. Call the Road to Freedom program at 417-820-3617 (toll free 800-909-8326). St. John’s also offers a special program called Smoke-Free Babies to help pregnant woman stop smoking. Smoke-Free Babies can also be reached at 417-820-3617 (toll free 800-909-8326).