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Frank DiGregorio, 63, of Babylon knew he had to quit.
There were the occasional health scares. His concerned family. And of course, the money.
Then Southside Hospital’s pulmonary director in Bay Shore told him he’d be in need of an oxygen tank in 10 years if he didn’t stop now.
“I try to consider myself a real active guy, and that really scared me,” said the retired NYPD detective.
But the doctors and staffers had a plan.
Southside had recently rolled out a smoker’s cessation program, run by clinicians at Northwell Health’s Center for Tobacco Control.
Within three weeks, and after 48 years of smoking, he was done with them. That was in April.
DiGregorio and his wife, Adrianne, headed to Bay Shore Thursday to tell their story, and to encourage others to put their faith in Southside on Great American Smokeout day, during which people across the U.S. are urged to help someone to quit.
“It works,” DiGregorio said of the Northwell program. “I can’t say it enough, it works.”
The doctors and nurses say participants quit smoking within three weeks, and the Northwell program — there’s also one in Nassau County — has a 50 percent success rate.
The national average for similar programs is 20 percent, they say.
“It’s never too late,” said Dr. Scott Hall, the pulmonary director. “You get immediate health benefits when you quit, no matter how long you’ve been smoking.”
“After one year of quitting the risk of heart disease goes down to half of what it was,” he continued. “And in some cancers [the risk] actually goes back down to a person who never smoked. Your breathing function test will improve within a few months.
“I also tell people food will even taste better.”
DiGregorio says he owes not only Southside, but first and foremost his wife Adrianne for saving his life.
As their 40th anniversary approaches, he surprised her with a ruby pendant on Thursday.
With her eyes welled with tears, she thanked the staffers at Southside.
“We have four children and we all never though this day would ever, ever come,” she said.
“And we are forever grateful, because now we have him.”
Top: Frank DiGregorio surprises his wife, Adrianne, with a ruby pendant at Southside Hospital on Thursday as a thank-you for helping save his life. (Credit: Michael White)
