Almost 500,000 people in the United States die from smoking related causes each year, but local organizations are trying to encourage a path to reducing that number. 

November 21st is the Great American Smokeout,

A day sponsored by the American Cancer Society to help smokers quit.

Something Dr. Andrew Hyland believes the New York State Quitline, a  7 days a week phone service for New Yorkers seeking resources for nicotine addiction, helps to contribute to, taking over 3 million calls since they began.

"Quitting for a lifetime is a it's a goal. But just starting with one day. So, it started, I don't know, decades ago and continued to be the case. Millions of people who have tried to quit smoking during the Great American Smokeout," Hyland said.

But they provide more than just advice for the callers.

"Most people are eligible for starter kits, nicotine replacement therapy. you put the patch on or the gum or the lozenge, and it just puts up a little bit and enough nicotine into your body so that it takes the edge off of some of those cravings.  so it's really in that early time period when the medication is particularly important," Hyland said.

Something many of the 2 million New Yorkers who smoke have to pay a high price to have access to, with the Quitline serving as an alternative.

"The majority of people that come to us, are people that, maybe are on public insurance or they don't have any insurance where some of those barriers that are there.  the quit line is a resource.  we, send out, nicotine replacement therapy to about 100 people a day.  more than 30,000 people a year," Hyland said.

Resources available for the state and the local community, with Tioga County placing an emphasis on combating smoking as well.

With Kristin Russell, a Public Health Educator at the Tioga County Public Health Department, wants residents to be aware of.

"It's really important for people to take into consideration is that our smoking rates are a lot higher than a lot of the New York state averages, and the national averages. And actually, almost 22% of our adults are still current smokers and our youth, according to our most recent, community level development survey, 12% of them have tried cigarettes in their lifetime and almost 20% have, engaged in vaping," Russell said.

A cause they're combating by working with villages in the County in collaboration with Tobacco Free Broome-Tioga, a partnership of community organizations dedicated to the cause.

"We were really proud to work with Tobacco Free Broome-Tioga to encourage the Village of Spencer to adopt a outdoor smoke free policy. So that was a really big success. They passed a comprehensive smoke free policy, and we're very happy about that," Russell said.

The outdoor smoking ban in Spencer only applies to municipal buildings in accordance to the statewide law.

The Tioga County public health department encourages parents to make sure to keep their whole family is aware of the dangers of nicotine, and vows to continue working to lower the rates of preventable diseases.