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National Wear Red Day
By Amy Ward - Executive Director
Tobacco Free Benton-Franklin Counties
celebrated the American Heart Associations National Wear Red Day
by linking information regarding a healthy heart with the risks
of using tobacco.
Amy Ward, Executive Director of Tobacco
Free, provided information regarding tobacco use and heart
health during an interview with KONA radio on February 5th,
while youth at Kennewick High School talked with news reporters
from KVEW and KEPR about informing their peers of the dangers of
tobacco use by handing out candy with tobacco facts on them,
wearing tobacco fact stickers and providing tobacco facts over
the school announcements that day.
Breast Cancer is often thought to be the
most prevalent deadly disease in women; however that is no
longer the case. Studies show that 1 in 4 women will die from
Cardiovascular Disease, in comparison, 1 in 8 women will be
diagnosed with breast cancer. Smoking is a major risk for both
diseases and is one of the top 3 preventable behaviors towards
heart health. Smoking has not only long term effects, but also
immediate effects on cardiovascular health. In fact, even
second hand smoke has negative effects on heart health. A study
in Pueblo, Colorado showed that heart attack hospitalization
rates immediately dropped after the passage of a smoke free
indoor air law. “Even a small amount of exposure to secondhand
smoke can increase blood clotting, constrict blood vessels and
can cause a heart attack.” Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, a professor of
medicine, psychiatry and biopharmaceutical sciences at UCSF.
How does heart health or any tobacco
related illness affect Washington State? Washington State
spends $651 million, publicly funded dollars, each year treating
those with a tobacco related illness. That is $631 per household
going to treat tobacco related illnesses – even if no one in the
household smokes. With the rising costs of healthcare, tobacco
prevention is a cost saving solution!
The Washington State Tobacco Prevention and
Control program spends an estimate of $18 Million a year from
the tobacco settlement account; and has saved $2 Billion from
the state’s health budget by helping over 235,000 people quit
tobacco, that’s a 50% decrease in the number of tobacco users in
our state. Decreasing tobacco use equals increased heart health.
For more information contact Amy Ward at
amy@tobacco-free.net.
The Annual Youth Summit
By Melanie Norris - Tobacco Prevention Coordinator
Students from several area high schools
gather together on Friday, February 19th at the
Educational Service District 123 to spend the day participating
in team building activities, a tobacco 101 workshop, an
interactive workshop learning about the lies and schemes of the
tobacco companies and more. Groups were also given the
opportunity to plan future prevention activities, share ideas
with each other and talk about community concerns related to
tobacco.
It was great to see these hard working,
passionate students come together for a chance to learn and
interact with one another. Students also walked away with new
ideas and activities to take back to their schools to share the
anti tobacco message with their peers!
For more information contact Melanie Norris
at
melanie@tobacco-free.net
Youth Summit; A Students Voice
By Corey Wakeley - Marketing Director
Area students are still excited about
learning information about tobacco prevention, and they were
glad to have been at the Youth Summit so that they could do just
that.
 Danielle
Smith, a Senior at Kennewick High School said “I hadn’t thought
about the hazards of growing tobacco, only about the dangers of
using it.” She learned that the making of cigarettes takes 12%
of all cut trees worldwide… “that’s a lot of trees!” She felt
that making others aware of the toll tobacco takes on our
environment is important and plans to take that kind of
information back to her peers.
A sophomore at River View High School,
Rachel Hull, reported “One thing I learned from attending the
Youth Summit is that smoking has instant effects on your body,
not just long term” she plans on sharing this type of
information with anyone she knows who smokes or is thinking
about smoking.
“My favorite topic was learning about what
tobacco executives have said in the past, because it was
interesting to hear that they lied to the public about tobacco
and it’s effects,” responded Kristen Lenseigne, a junior at
Richland High School. “I also learned a lot about the different
reasons people use tobacco. This will change what I do because
it gives me a better understanding of why people use tobacco,
and how I can help them stop.”
For Chardonnai Bondurant-Crummel the
information hit close to home “This summit will help me to
express all that I’ve learned to a close family member who is
addicted to tobacco. I am now aware of new information which
will allow me to influence others and prevent them from
smoking.”
The students who attended the Youth Summit
felt the day was well spend increasing their knowledge about the
dangers of tobacco and how to help influence others with that
knowledge.
For more information contact Corey Wakeley
at corey@tobacco-free.net
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