ROCKPORT – Freshstart, the American Cancer Society’s free quit-smoking program, will be available at Penobscot Bay Medical Center eight times in 2008. The program consists of four 11/2-hour sessions held during a four-week period.

Freshstart follows the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for tobacco use and prevention and is designed to help adult smokers stop smoking in two weeks by emphasizing a two-part process: stop smoking and stay stopped.

Because individuals differ as to which part is most difficult for them, Freshstart addresses both processes: The group and the facilitator will help participants to stop smoking as quickly as possible and teach them new techniques for ending the physical and psychological need to smoke.

The four meetings will be conducted as work sessions. A Freshstart facilitator will begin each meeting by asking for questions or individual reactions from group members. Quitting cold turkey, use of a nicotine replacement, fighting urges to smoke, addressing physical symptoms of withdrawal from smoking, and highlighting all of the benefits of not smoking are discussed during the four weeks.

Freshstart will provide concrete ways to handle two major obstacles for many ex-smokers: weight control and stress management. Participants will receive a Freshstart kit with materials to review and use at meetings and at home, according to a hospital press release.

The Freshstart schedule is: 5:30-7 p.m. Thursdays, Jan. 10-31; Wednesdays, Feb. 6-27; Tuesdays, March 4-25; Wednesdays, April 9-30; Tuesdays, May 6-27; Wednesdays, Sept. 3-24; Thursdays, Oct. 9-30; and Mondays, Nov. 3-24, at the Cardiac Rehab Center Education Room at Penobscot Bay Medical Center.

Thanks to a grant received from the Knox County Community Health Coalition, Pen Bay Healthcare can offer these classes to the community free of charge. All classes in a series of four must be attended. For information or to register, call PBMC education department at 596-8443.

The Pen Bay Healthcare family of services includes Penobscot Bay Medical Center, Kno-Wal-Lin Home Care and Hospice, Quarry Hill Retirement Community, the Knox Center for Long Term Care and the Mid-Coast Mental Health Center.

For information, please visit penbayhealthcare.org.