Alongside the shortage of healthcare providers in rural Minnesota, there’s also a shortage of support to quit smoking.

Despite smoking rates in the U.S. having dropped significantly in recent decades — thanks to public health campaigns, indoor smoking bans and higher taxes on tobacco products — tobacco use remains a persistent public health challenge in rural areas.

“Rural residents tell us local clinics are often ghost towns,” says Dana Carroll, PhD, McKnight Presidential Fellow and director of tobacco research programs at the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. “We call these under-resourced areas ‘cessation deserts.’”

Now Carroll is testing an innovative workaround solution: free “Quit Kits” mailed directly to rural tobacco users.

Developed in collaboration with the University of Minnesota’s College of Design and a community advisory board of rural Minnesotans, the kits feature nicotine patches and lozenges paired with access to approachable information connecting users to digital support tools like text programs and apps.

Built around the theme that quitting is a journey, the kit’s user-centered design aims to be engaging, accessible and unintimidating.

Early feedback from recipients has been overwhelmingly positive, with most participants noting they would recommend the kit to a friend — and many taking the step to purchase additional supplies afterward.

While the current study is supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the project’s roots stem from local generosity. Carroll’s early pilot research and community groundwork were launched with startup funding from Minnesota Masonic Charities.

By backing early-stage ideas, this philanthropic support helped build the foundation for major federal funding — turning those initial gifts into scalable, lifesaving solutions for rural Minnesotans, Carroll says.

“[Tobacco cessation] products are expensive,” Carroll explains. “Removing cost and access barriers gives people a foot in the door. The kit opens up a world of resources many rural users didn’t know existed.”