SmokeStop 24 is a daily dispatch and referral hotline that connects households with two kinds of partner programs: stop-smoking programs for folks ready to quit, and at-home COVID-19 screening programs for folks who'd like to test from the kitchen table. It is not, and has never been, a clinic. It is a switchboard, a classifieds desk, and a kitchen-table referral service — and nothing more.
The paper was founded with a simple conviction: that quitting and testing are both private decisions, and that a good referral, delivered quietly, is more useful than a loud campaign. Each week the Hotline Desk collects intake requests from households across the country, matches them to a vetted stop-smoking partner or at-home COVID-19 screening partner operating in the appropriate ZIP code, and then — and here is the unusual part — steps aside.
The partner coordinator reaches out directly, on their own letterhead, to walk the household through whichever program was requested. For the stop-smoking side, that may be coaching, cessation resources, or support calls. For the screening side, it may be eligibility intake for an at-home COVID-19 test kit, instructions, and a results pathway. SmokeStop 24 does not listen in, does not bill, and does not chase. If the first partner is not a fit, the household can request another. If none of the partners are a fit, SmokeStop 24 quietly closes the file.
That is the whole newspaper. The whole newspaper fits on one page, most days, and the editors prefer it that way. There is a form on the back page (on this website, it is further down), and a phone number that rings at a real desk during business hours, and that's it. No signup, no dashboard, no account to recover.
If you are reading this and you are thinking about quitting smoking, or you've been meaning to get a COVID-19 test kit sent to the house — or if you are thinking about thinking about either — the editorial staff would like to gently point you toward The Hotline, below. It takes about a minute to fill out. A partner coordinator will be in touch.