KORI

By Rick Garrick Feb. 2008

Keewaytinook Okimakanak Health is developing a new Smoking Cessation pilot project in partnership with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine.

"We are trying to reduce the number of smokers in the community," says Robert Thomas, KO Health director. "We also want to come up with ways on how we can intervene, especially with the youth that are smoking at a very early age."

One of the main goals of the pilot project, scheduled to run from Feb. 1 to March 31, is to create an awareness among youth of the serious consequences of smoking. "Hopefully, we can make an impact on the younger generation," Thomas says. "With the rise in cancer in the Aboriginal community, this is one of the ways we can prevent cancer."