The Municipal Employee Wellness program works with representatives of seven communities (Fall River, Attleboro, Mansfield, N. Attleboro, Somerset, Swansea & Westport) to improve the health of employees. In order to increase access to smoking cessation resources, coordinator Julie Kelly called together town health representatives as well as representatives of local treatment providers, insurers and pharmaceutical companies who supply cessation products for a two-hour meeting on December 5, 2008. Held at Fall River Fire Department headquarters at the Industrial Park, the meeting engaged participants in a lively discussion of how best to assist the large percentage of municipal employees in the seven communities to use the available smoking cessation resources. Potential collaborations were outlined and future meetings were planned to enable further action. Click here for a listing of cessation treatment resources in Fall River. For more information about the Municipal Employee Wellness Program, contact Julianne Kelly at 508-324-2405.

(Top row, left) Municipal Employee Wellness Coordinator Julianne Kelly opens the meeting by welcoming the participants and outlining the agenda for the meeting. (Top row, center) Corrigan Mental Health Center Clinical Director Gregory Cowan and Pfizer Medical Outcomes Specialist Barbara Miller Perry listen as Linda Jenkins of the HealthFirst Family Care Center describes her experiences in providing cessation counseling. (Top row, right) Fall River Tobacco Control Program coordinator Marilyn Edge responds to Jim Mooney of the Attleboro Board of Health as he describes the work he is doing with municipal employees. (Middle row, left) Southcoast Hospitals Employee Wellness Coordinator Kristi Aimone talks about their new smoke-free zones and cessation program as Quitworks coordinator Nicole Almeida and BMC HealthNet representative Kelly Nevins listen. (Middle row, right) Blue Cross/Blue Shield representative Pam Santin talks about some of the cessation benefits that municipal employees can access as part of their coverage as St. Anne's Hospital Freedom-from-Smoking instructor Dixie Tavares listens. (Bottom row, left) Cindy Cooperstein, Healthcare Specialist for GlaxoSmithKline talks about the COMMIT cessation resource. (Bottom row, center) Pfizer District Manager Leslie Gurski looks over the information table with Greg Cowan, including information on Chantix. (Bottom row, right) Julie Kelly talks with Westport Board of Health representative Jim Walsh at the end of the meeting.