ATLANTA, Nov. 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sharecare, the leading online health and wellness engagement platform, and the American Cancer Society (ACS) will co-host the third Great American Smokeout Twitter Chat on Thursday, November 19, from 12 to 3 p.m. ET using the hashtag #QuitLikeAChampion.
According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco use is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the US—it is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths. The #QuitLikeAChampion Chat will touch on several different topics around smoking, tobacco use and addiction, and the negative health effects of cigarettes.
“Thanks in part to the Society’s work, cigarette smoking among U.S. adults has decreased from more than 42 percent in 1965 to around 18 percent today,” said Otis W. Brawley, M.D. Chief Medical Officer for the American Cancer Society. “Yet tobacco-related diseases remain the world’s most preventable cause of disease and premature death, causing about 1 in 5 deaths in the US. Planning a date to quit smoking is a key step smokers can take to live healthier lives. The Great American Smokeout is a perfect opportunity to help smokers realize they can add up to a decade onto their life by quitting now.”
The #QuitLikeAChampion Chat will cover specific topics as follows:
12-1 pm: How to quit smoking: safe and effective ways
1-2 pm: E-cigarettes
2-3 pm: Tobacco Control and Advocacy
Featured experts who will answer questions on these topics and more include researchers from the American Cancer Society, tobacco cessation experts, Sharecare partner organizations and hospitals, and members of the Sharecare Advisory Board.
How to join the conversation:
What: Great American Smokeout Twitter Chat (#QuitLikeAChampion)
When: Thursday, Nov. 19, 12 to 3 p.m. ET
Who*: American Cancer Society (@AmericanCancer) and ACS experts (@cdoug and @leewestmaas)
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (@ACSCAN)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov)
HealthCorps (@HealthCorps)
Baptist Health South Florida (@BaptistHealthSF)
Greenville Health System (@ghs_org)
UCLA Health (@UCLAHealth)
Mercy Health (@MercyHealthWM)
Lourdes Health System (@LourdesHealth)
Members of the Sharecare Advisory Board
How to Participate: Submit your questions and comments on Twitter using the hashtag #QuitLikeAChampion through 3 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 19. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can post questions to Sharecare’s Facebook page, as well as follow the live chat on Sharecare.
*This is a partial list of experts; more may participate in the actual Chat
About the Great American Smokeout
The American Cancer Society marks the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November each year by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day. By quitting — even for one day — smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life – one that can lead to reducing cancer risk.
About Sharecare
Sharecare is a health and wellness engagement platform that provides people with personalized resources to help them live their healthiest lives. Nearly 40 million people have shared more than 5 billion data points about their health status and habits with Sharecare, which uses that information to create a comprehensive health profile allowing users to access all of their health resources in one place, and dynamically connect to the knowledge, evidence-based programs and health professionals they need. Created by Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2010, Sharecare’s predictive and personalized platform is accessed daily by millions of consumers, including viewers of The Dr. Oz Show, patient populations of the country’s leading hospital systems and every Soldier in the United States Army.
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