Health Services Council

The mission of the Health Services Council is to address a variety of health issues in St. Joseph County and to help make affordable, high quality, proactive, health care available to all residents.

A current focus of this council is S.T.Q.P. (St. Joseph County Tobacco Quit Project)—a county-wide tobacco reduction program.

It is estimated that there are more than 38,000 adults in St. Joseph County who want to quit smoking. Choosing and access a program that could help them quit hasn't always been easy. One goal of S.T.Q.P. is to help these individuals find the right information and methods to help them kick their habit.

If you think you may be addicted to tobacco, you can take our simple six question test. Your results will automatically display when you submit your responses.

St. Joseph County offers numerous types of assistance to people who would like to stop smoking:

Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center offers a step-by-step cessation program with discounts for Pro Health members. The classes focus on unlearning the automatic behaviors of smoking and then replacing them with healthful new alternatives.

The Lung Center at Memorial Hospital offers a 4-week program providing participants with information and motivation to help them make a commitment and formulate a personalized plan to become tobacco free.

The American Cancer Society Fresh Start Program offers a free program focusing on concrete ways to handle two major obstacles for many ex-smokers: weight control and stress management.

The Perinatal Exposure Prevention Program (PEPP) is a free smoking cessation program for women and their partners. The program is group-oriented, and women are able to find support in their efforts to quit or reduce smoking. Each week of the program focuses on a different issue related to smoking cessation and pregnancy.

"To preserve health is a moral and religious duty, for health is the basis of all social virtues. We can no longer be useful when we are not well."

Samuel Johnson