Program offers free supplies to mothers who quit smoking

An Idaho program that offers free diapers and wipes as an incentive to mothers and family members of infants to stop smoking helped 384 people quit the habit from June 2020 to April 2021, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Josie Graham, a health program manager at IDHW, said that program also resulted in 609 packages of diapers and wipes being distributed to participants last year.

“It’s really helpful to people that need that financial incentive to not have to buy their own diapers and wipes,” she said, “and then of course, the awesome added benefit of improving (infants’) health and the health of the people they live with.”

To be eligible, participants must enroll in or have previously completed evidence-based cessation services such as the Idaho QuitLine, a phone-based counseling service designed to help users quit, or cessation classes. They must also remain smoke-free, which is monitored through saliva tests.

The value of the cases of diapers and wipes families are supplied with are $45.99 and $19.99 respectively, making the estimated savings for families who participate for a full year $791.76, according to data from IDHW.

The program is run by the Idaho Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, also known as Project Filter, with funding by the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.

“We have priorities that include increasing the number of people who quit smoking,” Graham said, “and we also have a priority that’s to reduce secondhand smoke exposure. So this diapers and wipe program helps us with both of those priorities.”

The program currently costs about $35,000 a year, or roughly $5,000 per health district, for personnel, nicotine testing, diapers and wipes. The program is also offered to the Nez Perce Tribe through Nimiipuu Health, as well as the Coeur d’Alene and Shoshone Bannock tribes.

About $23,000 in MCH funds also go to marketing the program for pregnant women and smoking cessation.

Women who are pregnant or postpartum with a child younger than 12 months are eligible, as are people living in the same household as a child younger than 12 months.

In the fiscal year 2020, there were 236 women who enrolled in the program while they were pregnant, 49 fathers and 25 household members.

The 2022 grant application noted that Crissy Garcia, the tobacco cessation coordinator for the Nez Perce Tribe’s Nimiipuu Health Clinic, said allowing any household member to participate was a specific benefit to tribal families who often live in multi-generational homes.

Those interested in the program can learn more by contacting their local public health district or calling the Idaho CareLine at 2-1-1 or 1-800-926-2588.

Sun may be contacted at rsun@lmtribune.com or on Twitter at @Rachel_M_Sun. This report is made possible by the Lewis-Clark Valley Healthcare Foundation in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting, the Lewiston Tribune and the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.