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PAGE 14, JULY 6, 2009, THE ISLANDER
(News to Q-CeCv
The Best is Yet to Be
By Clark Gillespie M.D.,
Professor Emeritus, the University of Arkansas
Light up - or rather, Lighten up
Our multi-centuries-long dalliance
with tobacco remains the single great
est cause of premature death in the
United States. That distinction will
quite probably fade in a few decades
because tobacco is slowly falling from
grace whilst obesity, its heir-appar
ent, is an exploding disaster and we’re
dying - dying to make it the new
leader.
A most dangerous component in
tobacco is, of course, nicotine - a depen
dency and addictive drug such as hero
in, morphine and cocaine. How tobacco
has escaped the regulatory grasp hold
ing these others at bay, defies logic.
Yet, defy it does, and only the small
principality of Bhutan is, in our whole
world, able to so totally banish it.
At the beginning of the 20th century,
President Theodore Roosevelt ordered
the commission of an establishment
that would soon became the FDA - the
Food and Dug Administration. This
commission was given orders to halt
the distribution of misbranded, adul
terated or poisonous and deleterious
food and drugs amongst us.
About ten years ago, David Kessler,
then head of the FDA, fought to have
the authority to regulate all tobacco
and its products that bind us since
they logically fell well within that
agency’s purview.
Such a correct and bold move was
eventually beaten down - by a techni
cality - in our Supreme Court in a 5-4
decision.
This past week, thankfully, our Con
gress enacted legislation to overcome
that judicial blow and indeed gave the
FDA complete control over everything
tobacco while providing extensive limi
tations in its applications and promo
tion. This represents a long overdue
For everything from greeting cards
and beauty products to prescription
drugs and over-the-counter
medications, we hope you’ll continue
to make us your first choice. We
certainly appreciate your business.
Tommy Bryan - Pharmacist/Owner
Andy Ledford - Pharmacist
Longview Shopping Center
Frederica Rd • St. Simons Island
912-638-8676
Open Seven Days
protective piece of legislation.
Let’s just look at what our contin
ued tobacco use does to our society:
• Our dalliance with tobacco prod
ucts is probably the No. 1 health con
cern for us and for our world.
• Each year at least 435,000 Ameri
cans perish as a result of tobacco use.
The main death-dealing disorders so-
produced include those involving our
hearts, blood vessels and lungs. It is,
for instance, responsible for almost
90% of all lung cancers. And as our
hearts say in those recent ads -’’Stop
smoking - or I quit!”
• The annual cost to our health care
system approaches 100 billion dollars.
• In spite of all these risks and of
the diminished quality of a shortened
life associated with tobacco addiction
and its very-well known mortal risks,
one in five of us still smoke and young
recruits are hustled successfully and
Barbara Smith was named Volun
teer of the Quarter and Darryl Toler
was named the first ever male presi
dent of the Southeast Georgia Health
System Brunswick Campus Auxiliary.
The presentations were made during
the Auxiliary’s recent quarterly lun
cheon in the Linda S. Pinson Confer
ence Center on the Brunswick Campus.
Smith volunteers her time in Human
Resources while Toler volunteers in the
regularly.
Such a critical indictment of any
other marauding agent into the lives
of us all would have long ago brought
forth a heavy broadside of regulations,
controls, and even banishment from
our midst.
Unfortunately nicotine still has
a heavy hold on our national and
rational thinking, so such banishment
comes slowly and painfully. Most of
us seniors have smoked and smoked
heavily - painfully, some of us still do.
Smoking tobacco products is, remem
ber, an addiction and not just a habit.
Controlling and abating or, better
still, forever conquering addictions is
always a cliff-hanging - often formi
dable ordeal. This is so even though
our famed raconteur Mark Twain said
that to quit smoking was easy - but
that was because he had quit so many,
many times.
Still, great numbers of us have been
able to lay smoking behind us, and it
quickly becomes a truly strengthening
undertaking while manifestly improv
ing our health and our longevity. Sup
portive and instructive help to break-
off this addiction is readily available
from the American Cancer Society’s
Admissions Department.
Other new officers sworn in during
the meeting were First Vice President
Tom Bulloch, Second Vice President
Kathy Strickland, Third Vice President
Barbara Smith, Secretary Mary Lynne
Cochran, and Treasurer Anne Rivers.
These newly elected officers will serve
a two-year term.
Appointed board members
announced at the meeting were James
website as well as from that of the
American Lung Association.
It is almost never too late to quit,
and success will endow our spiritual as
well as our physical firmament.
Now, to somewhat digress. Sadly
- for me, at least - this will be the last
of our present series of senior health
columns.
I am now engaged in writing a book
on senior health and lifestyle, and such
an endeavor, in these somewhat over
whelming and overly- mature years
of mine, is totally binding and time
consuming.
Writing these columns for you has
been a continuing pleasure for me and
my greatest wish is that they produced
a somewhat similar response within
you - my readers.
Please do me a favor and keep with
you the senior health principles that
we have talked about together so often.
Your continued well-being is impor
tant to me - and certainly more-so to
you! Hopefully, at least for me, this
new chore will be just a short and pro
ductive hiatus. Blessings to you all.
Editor's note: The Islander will con
tinue to print previous columns by Dr.
Gillespie while the doctor is on hiatus.
Walker, Helen Cope, outgoing Auxiliary
President Jonell Thompson, Jean Far-
rant, Sarah Ratcliffe, Charles McCol
lum, and Ivalee Roberson.
Volunteers, from teenagers to
seniors, work throughout the Health
System’s many locations.
To find out more about volunteering,
contact Kristin Doll, director of Volun
teer Services, at 912-466-1071 or visit
www.sghs.org. □
Above: New officers and board members of the Southeast |
Georgia Health System Brunswick Campus Auxiliary are:
(front row, left to right) Second Vice-President Kathy Strick-1
land, Third Vice-President Barbara Smith, Secretary Mary
Lynne Cochran, Treasurer Anne Rivers, and board members
Ivalee Roberson and Jonelle Thompson; (back row, left to
right) President Darryl Toler, and board members James
Walker, Sarah Ratcliffe, Jean Farrant, Helen Cope, and[
Charles McCollum.
Below: Director of Vol
unteer Services Kristin
Doll, left, and new
Auxiliary President
Darryl Toler, center,
present Volunteer of
the Quarter Barbara
Smith, right, with her
plaque.
Health System Auxiliary names new officers, board, and Volunteer of the Quarter
