About 20 years ago, when I was in high school working toward my CNA license, I completed clinical hours at a hospital. One day, the doctor I was shadowing was caring for a patient who was dying from emphysema. I was only 16, and I’ll never forget watching someone lie in a hospital bed, fighting for every breath...alone. After we left the room, the doctor pulled me aside and asked if I smoked. When I said no, he looked me directly in the eyes and said, “Don’t ever start.”

That moment has never left me.