Tulsa Health Dept., CDC Work Together To Fight Tobacco Addiction

The Tulsa Health Department is teaming up with the CDC to try to deal with tobacco addiction in Oklahoma.

The CDC brought in speakers like Brian Hayden.

Hayden began smoking when he was 12 years old and had a heart attack at 35.

He says his health continued to decline, but he didn’t stop smoking until he was in hospice and expecting to die.

“Months later, I still hadn’t died,” he said.  “At that point I thought, ‘well, if I’m not going to die, I better give myself a chance to live’ and I finally was able to quit smoking.”

The Tulsa Health Department says tobacco kills 7,500 Oklahomans every year.