TSET Executive Director Elected to 
North American Quitline Consortium

TSET EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TRACEY STRADER TO SERVE 3-YEAR TERM
TO BETTER REPRESENT OKLAHOMA’S 1-800-QUIT-NOW TOBACCO HELPLINE

OKLAHOMA CITY (July 2, 2010) – Tracey Strader, a national tobacco cessation services expert and executive director of the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET), has been elected to serve a 3-year term on the board of directors of the North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC).

Based in Phoenix, the NAQC is an international, non-profit membership organization. NAQC seeks to promote evidence based quitline services across diverse communities in North America. Quitlines are telephone-based tobacco cessation services that help tobacco users quit. Free, public quitlines exist in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and all ten Canadian provinces.

In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) assists tobacco users in breaking their addictions using state of the art “quit coaching” and nicotine patches or gum. The Helpline is funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust, Oklahoma State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The Oklahoma Tobacco Helpline provides services based on the strongest evidence of effectiveness and helps thousands of tobacco users quit for good each year,” said Casey Killblane, chair, TSET board of directors. “Tracey’s leadership in this area has been invaluable to Oklahomans and her service on the NAQC board will not only bring the newest ideas back to Oklahoma, but will also share our expertise and creative strategies with those in other states.”

As the executive director of TSET, Strader oversees a state agency which currently invests approximately $18 million each year to tobacco prevention and control. Over the past 25 years, she has been extensively involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs related to public health, tobacco control, maternal and child health, services for senior adults, and mental health and substance abuse services. She received a bachelor’s degree in social work from St. Mary College in Leavenworth, Kansas, a master’s degree in social work administration from the University of Oklahoma, and has been a licensed social worker in the State of Oklahoma since 1982.

NAQC membership is comprised of quitline service providers, funders of quitlines, researchers and strategic partners. Members of NAQC receive many benefits, including member only events, professional development, a variety of communications and opportunities for networking and information sharing.

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ABOUT OKLAHOMA TOBACCO SETTLEMENT ENDOWMENT TRUST
The Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust was established through a constitutional amendment approved by Oklahoma voters in 2000. While most state governments have failed to keep their promise to use tobacco settlement funds for tobacco prevention and other programs to improve health, Oklahomans have created an endowment to assure that funds will be available for these purposes for generations to come. To learn more go to: www.tset.ok.gov.