INGHAM COUNTY - On the third Thursday of every November, the American Cancer Society sponsors the Great American Smokeout, which is a day intended to encourage smokers to quit.

The Ingham County Health Department hosted their own event at Grange Acres Senior Housing in Haslett. Grange Acres has many classes and opportunities for seniors to learn about living healthier, and many of the residents have asked for help to quit smoking. Although the event focused on seniors, the most common age group for smokers is 18-24, and children in Ingham County are being exposed to smoking even earlier than that.

“The average age of initiation for smoking is age 13 in Ingham county, and then we have smoking increasing through the age of 26, and then stabilizing, and then going down around the age of 40," said Amy Moore, who works with the Ingham County Health Department.

According to Moore, the main reason the numbers begin to decline at age 40 is because it is around that time that smokers begin to notice the long term side effects of smoking. Many of the residents at Grange Acres, even those who quit 20 years ago, are suffering from health problems related to smoking.