Austin Travis County Integral Care Annual Report Fiscal Year 2015 | Page 11

Chronic Disease Management: Team Trains LMHAs to Go Tobacco-Free
Integral Care was awarded a grant by the Cancer

and manageable chronic diseases. Integral Care’s

Prevention & Research Institute of Texas to lead

Chronic Disease Management (CDM) team is

the effort to help Local Mental Health Authorities

working to raise awareness and presented at

(LMHAs) go tobacco-free in collaboration with MD

the Second World Congress for Integrated Care

Anderson Cancer Center. In response to the 25,000

in Sydney, Australia in November 2014. The

Texans who die from tobacco-related cancers each

presentation highlighted our

year, the Texas Department of State Health Services

program, which focuses on tobacco cessation,

mandated that all LMHA clinics within Texas

diabetes management, obesity reduction, fitness

become tobacco-free campuses by December

and nutrition. Participants have demonstrated

2015. The Taking Texas Tobacco Free program,

improvements in biometric screening results,

modeled after Integral Care’s successful tobacco-

reduced utilization of emergency services and

free workplace program, includes organizational

reported improvements in their mental health.

policies, education, screening, treatment and
outreach and was adapted and disseminated to
LMHAs across Texas. The long term goal of Taking
Texas Tobacco-Free is to prevent cancer by helping
tobacco-using Texans with mental illness and other
chronic diseases become tobacco-free.
Individuals with mental illness die, on average, 25
years earlier than the general population from
tobacco-related illnesses and other preventable

integrated CDM

44%
44% of all cigarettes
manufactured in the US are
smoked by consumers living
with Serious Mental Illness

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