Published: May 29, 2007 01:57 pm      

Dr. Joseph Weigel’s anti-smoking campaign

Somerset — Hanging on the wall in Dr. Joseph Weigel’s office is a plaque that reads, “Take time to work, play, think, read, pray, laugh, listen, dream, worship and love.”

This message could easily be Weigel’s philosophy of life and probably the best medicine he could give his patients to live healthy, happier lives.

It’s second nature for the Somerset physician to take a pro-active stance on preventive medicine since he knows from experience the toll certain kinds of illnesses and diseases can take on the human body. Years of tending to the sick has instilled in Weigel a passion to be an advocate and educator on public health issues.

During the last 25 years, Weigel has watched patients battle illnesses, struggle to cope and fight for their last breath. His role as a physician gives him a unique insight into the long-lasting effects certain lifestyle choices — including the use of tobacco products — have on vital internal organs.

“When you take care of sick people, watch people struggle to breath and watch people die prematurely from heart disease, lung disease or cancer, then naturally you migrate to the prevention of illnesses,” Weigel said in an interview from his office at the Lake Cumberland Medical Arts building near the hospital.

Approximately 80 percent of the illnesses Weigel says he treats can be traced to three contributing factors: Sedentary lifestyle, overeating and smoking.

“Tobacco is at the root of most of the common illnesses that adults in southcentral Kentucky deal with on a regular basis,” said Weigel.

The health activist has made it his personal crusade to educate people of all ages about the dangers of smoking and inhaling second-hand smoke.

His latest push is to try to get local governments to pass an ordinance that will make all public buildings — including restaurants — smoke-free. While Kentucky is one of the leading tobacco-producing states in the nation, Lexington made a bold move a while back to ban smoking in most public buildings.

Weigel said the people of Somerset and Pulaski County are “behind the curve” in their efforts to enact similar legislation.

“Other communities in this state are ahead of us and have taken the necessary measures to make certain that non-smokers are no longer exposed to a significant health risk simply because smokers wish to smoke in public,” he said.

According to the American Lung Association, second-hand smoke lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections and asthma.

The latest Surgeon General’s report links second-hand smoke to premature death and disease in children and in adults who do not smoke. The report found children exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems and more severe asthma. Further findings substantiate that exposure of adults to second-hand smoke has immediate adverse affects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.

These and other facts supported by the medical community back up Weigel’s position that “there is no risk free level of exposure to second-hand smoke.”

“No one has the right to smoke in a public-enclosed area where other people are exposed to the pollutants released when smoking occurs,” said Weigel. “You don’t have the right to poison me because you poison yourself.”

Weigel said no other area of the state — or in the United States — has more significant serious cardiovascular and lung disease than does Pulaski County.

“It’s imperative that our public leaders do what needs to be done and must be done,” he said in a recent plea to the community to enact legislation calling for a smoking ban in public buildings.

Weigel, personally, would prefer that no one smoke or use tobacco products. However, since tobacco is part of Kentucky’s culture, he has focused his attention on prevention.

“My real advocacy is to try to prevent children from starting to smoke and to move in a direction that would eventually see public buildings in Pulaski County smoke-free,” he said.

Weigel and Dr. Kevin Kavanagh were among the first local public health advocates to reach out to students about the dangers of smoking.

Their goal was to let children of smokers know they have a choice and hopefully prevent students from smoking their first cigarette. Statistics show that 80 percent of all lifetime smokers start before the age of 18.

When the two physicians were taking their anti-smoking campaign into the schools several years ago, Weigel said he noticed students were starting to smoke as early as the third or fourth grade. That was the reason Weigel threw his support for a higher excise tax on the purchase of cigarettes.

“The more expensive cigarettes are, the less likely young people are to smoke,” he said.

Sometimes, it seems Weigel is fighting an uphill battle.

“The people in Kentucky made a choice many years ago to trade their health for the economic benefits of growing and selling tobacco,” Weigel said.

If society is to change, it likely will have to start with a change in people’s attitudes.

“What has to happen, if we are ever going to change the culture in Kentucky, is to begin to pursue health and disease prevention rather than court premature illnesses and death.”