Shelly Henderson, Evergreen Healthcare’s lead health education coordinator and director of production, is the recipient of the first Annual Smoking Cessation Community Prevention Award from Nicotine Solutions for her outstanding dedication to helping people in the community quit using tobacco products.

Nicotine Solutions is a California-based world leader in smoking cessation programs. Its international prevention award recognizes groups or individuals who make a significant impact in promoting and supporting community members in their efforts to stop smoking.

Evergreen and Nicotine Solutions have partnered for 12 years to offer Eastside residents tobacco cessation classes, with Henderson leading the program coordination, facilitation and community outreach.

Henderson, a certified health education specialist, has coordinated smoking cessation programs for the Eastside community at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center since 1999. Her work has helped hundreds of residents stop using nicotine products through her efforts to bring cessation programs to area companies, community centers, senior centers and health fairs.

“We are so proud of the exceptional work that Shelly has done to positively affect the lives of so many in our community by targeting the most preventable cause of health problems,” said Evergreen Hospital CEO Robert Malte. “At Evergreen, we place a considerable emphasis on leading treatment with prevention and education, and Shelly’s work with Nicotine Solutions is a prime example of that care philosophy.”

Nicotine Solutions’ classes take a multifaceted approach to treating nicotine addiction, and the program helps tobacco users quit using proven behavioral modification techniques throughout an eight-week course.

Participants attend live, interactive classes that meet as a group either in person or via teleconference. By the end of the course, 90 percent of Nicotine Solutions’ students successfully quit smoking or chewing, with 70 percent reporting a tobacco-free lifestyle after one year.

Evergreen participants in the Nicotine Solutions program experience similar success, as described by one class member: “After 33 years of smoking and using nearly every means available to quit, I finally managed to do so on October 25, 2005. For this reason, I want to thank Evergreen Medical Center and Shelly Henderson, for they not only taught me how to quit, but how to stay that way.”