The Association of State and Territorial Health
Officials
Nov/Dec 2000, Volume 4
Note: This publication has been individually transmitted to state tobacco program managers, ASTHO affiliates, and other tobacco prevention professionals. You are encouraged to forward all or part of this publication to STATE HEALTH OFFICIALS, COALITION MEMBERS, and OTHER PARTNERS. The Tobacco Free Press is produced by ASTHO under Cooperative Agreement N.U50/CCU306138-07 with the CDC Office on Smoking and Health. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS:
Alaska
The city of Anchorage passed
an ordinance last June, which will take effect December 31st. The ordinance bans smoking in most
workplaces, including restaurants, bowling alleys, sports arenas and pool
halls. Smoking will be allowed in most
bars, businesses with four or fewer employees, tobacco retail shops and bingo
parlors that have separate ventilated areas for smokers. The ordinance allows smoking in 25 percent
of hotel and motel rooms. Violators
will be issued two warning letters. A
third complaint could result in a $300 fine.
For more information, contact Nikki Haars, Tobacco Control Specialist,
American Cancer Society at 1-800-478-9355 or nhaars@cancer.org.
California
West Hollywood City Council
recently enacted a measure to protect apartment tenants from secondhand
smoke. It is believed to be the first
action of its kind in the nation to resolve conflicts between nonsmokers and
their smoking neighbors. The city plans
to publicize that landlords now can declare smoke-free units in their
properties under existing laws. In
addition, landlords will be able to list units and buildings as smoking or
nonsmoking with a city registry. When a
non-smoking tenant files a complaint concerning smoke drifting in from a
neighbor's apartment, the city will arbitrate the conflict. People who refuse to mediate or who violate
arbitration agreements could potentially face fines and eviction. According to a 1998 survey, most West
Hollywood residents are renters, with an estimated 65% living in apartments and
24% living in condominiums.
The council has also approved
an ordinance that outlaws self-service tobacco displays, typically found on the
countertops of convenience stores. City
businesses have six months to comply with the new law.
For more information, contact Ester Schiller, Executive Director for SAFE
(Smokefree Air For Everyone) at 805-499-8921.
Colorado
Superior, Colorado is the first
Colorado community to ban smoking in defined, outdoor eating areas of
restaurants. The ordinance passed with
support from 62 percent of voters. The
Town Board of Trustees sent the measure to the ballot in August after being
persuaded by 284 petition signatures.
The town has passed two other smoking ordinances since March of this
year. The first requires restaurants to
build separate ventilation systems for their smoking and non-smoking
sections. The second, passed in June,
requires strict separation of smoking and non-smoking areas in
restaurants. A rapidly growing area
with a present population of approximately 10,000 residents, Superior is
located 20 miles northeast of Denver on the Boulder Turnpike. There are presently five eating
establishments, two of which have patios.
Two other firms have filed plans for future restaurant development.
For more information, contact Rita Anderson, Community Services Director
for the Town of Superior, at 303-499-3675 or ritaa@townofsuperior.com.
Florida
The Weston City Commission
deferred voting on a smoking ban proposed for city parks, inside city-owned
buildings and also within 50 feet of them.
The maximum fine would entail 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The City Commission will bring it back for
discussion at their second meeting in January in order to get more suggestions
from residents.
Also, Coral Springs City
Commission unanimously passed a law regulating tobacco smoke in city parks on
December 19th. The ban
prohibits smoking in certain areas of the park system, including in and around
seating areas or bleachers, concession stands, restrooms or playing
fields. The law took affect December 20th. Warnings will be given out the first few
weeks. After that, violators may be
fined $25.
Maine
Two of Bangor's general
hospitals, St. Joseph Hospital and Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC), have
banned smoking on hospital grounds, effective after New Year's. Presently,
patients at EMMC can get a doctor's permission to use a smoking room. St. Joseph's requires patients to smoke
outdoors. Both hospitals will now offer
free nicotine patches and gum, bedside counseling, and other services to
smokers during their hospital stay.
Members of special counseling teams received training in early November
from Dr. Stephen H. Herman, clinical assistant professor of medical psychology
at Duke University Center. Herman, who
has written on the subject of care for smokers in hospitals, gave detailed
instructions on how to make sure patients are comfortable and do not suffer
from nicotine withdrawal while in the hospital. Both St. Joseph and EMMC will also pay for cessation programs
and nicotine replacement therapy for any hospital employees. EMMC is looking to put a nicotine gum
machine in the hospital for visitors.
For more information,
contact Mary Beth
Welton, Acting Program Manager of the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine at
207-287-4628 or email marybeth.t.welton@state.me.us.
Maryland
The Montgomery County Council
passed one of the nation's strictest smoking bans in Friendship Heights,
Maryland on December 12th.
The ordinance outlaws smoking in all spaces owned by the village,
including sidewalks and streets. The
ordinance does not prohibit smoking in vehicles, private lawns or on
residential balconies and patios.
Anyone caught smoking or discarding any tobacco products on village
property will receive one warning before being fined $100.
For
more information, contact Julian
Mansfield (301)656-2797 or Dr. Alfred Muller, Mayor of Friendship Heights,
(202) 362-3563.
Massachusetts
Tri-town Board of Health is
discussing changing local smoking regulations in Lee, Lenox, and
Stockbridge. The new regulations would
prohibit smoking in all retail stores and work sites. Smoking would be prohibited within 10 feet of the entrance to
work sites and public buildings. The
percentage of non-smoking rooms at hotels and motels would increase from 75 to
80 percent. Also bars would be
smoke-free if they allow anyone under 18 in their establishment. In addition, the definition of
"bar" would be changed. The
current definition is a venue where food service is incidental to alcohol
sales. The new definition would be more
specific where bars would identified as establishment that take 80 percent or
more of their income from alcohol sales.
Currently, smoking is only prohibited in retail food stores and smoking
sections are permitted in work sites.
The boards will vote on the regulations this winter. If approved, the new rules will go into
effect March 1st.
New Jersey
An ordinance in Leonia, New
Jersey prohibits smoking in all of its seven parks, with fines ranging from $50
to $100 for violations. However, there
are designated smoking areas, of which the majority are adjacent parking lots.
While the ordinance applies to smokers of all ages, it targets the teen
population who frequent the parks.
Officials have the option of sanctioning youth offenders with community
service, while adults can be fined.
Ohio
House Bill 298 did not pass out of Ohio’s 123rd
General Assembly because Governor Taft threatened to veto the bill. The bill, modeled after a Phillip Morris
1994 document, stated that clean indoor air regulations passed by the local
boards of health would have to be ratified by every political jurisdiction
within the region, including every city, village and township.
For more information, contact Susan Jagers at the American Cancer Society, 614-718-4434.
Pennsylvania
The Health Commissioner's
Study Group, convened by Philadelphia Health Commissioner Walter Tsou, issued a
report on November 1st supporting pending legislation to reduce
exposure to secondhand smoke in public places and workplaces. The study group's charge was to bring
together representatives of the restaurant industry, public health
organizations and related experts to explore ways of limiting non-smokers'
exposure to second-hand smoke in restaurants.
The majority of the study group recommended that smoking in restaurants
be confined to enclosed rooms with outside exhaust or be prohibited
altogether. In addition, the group
concluded that tax return data from all over the country consistently fails to
show any loss in restaurant revenues as a result of smoking restrictions. The report was endorsed by the Alliance for
Smoke-free Workplaces.
Under the pending legislation,
sponsored by Councilman Michael Nutter, restaurants would continue to offer
smoking sections, provided they are walled off from the non-smoking sections
and have adequate ventilation systems.
It would also allow smoking in bars, defined as establishment where more
than 60 percent of the sales are of alcohol.
The bill would also limit smoking in hotels and prohibit smoking in
other indoor workplaces.
Wisconsin
Kenosha became the eighth
municipality in Wisconsin to prohibit smoking in restaurants when an ordinance
adopted in September took effect on December 14th. Billboards are being placed to promote the
smoke-free restaurants. The billboard
campaign is paid for by a fund established with tobacco settlement dollars,
Kenosha's Initiative for Non-smoking Dining or KIND and private donations.
Southeast
Asian Youth
The National Asian Women's Health Organization
(NAWHO) released a study entitled, "Health Risks and Need for
Prevention: A Tobacco Report on
Southeast Asian Youth." This study
surveyed English speaking youth of Laotian, Vietnamese and Cambodian decent, in
grades 7-12, and residing in Dallas, Texas and Fresno, California. The youth were surveyed about their
awareness of health risks, age of initiation, access to tobacco products,
levels of ETS exposure and attitudes about smoking. The report is considered a
"snapshot" of these communities from which much can be learned
about tobacco use attitudes and exposure.
For
more information, contact NAWHO at
415-989-9747.
Ohio
Asians for Tobacco Free Ohio (AFTFO) is a project
implemented by Asian Services in Action Inc. with funding from the Ohio
Department of Health. Baseline data on
tobacco use has been collected on the youths and adults in Cuyahoga and Summit
counties. This data will be useful for
planning tobacco use prevention and smoke-free activities in targeted
groups, particularly in curbing youth
access.
To find out more on the preliminary findings of the
survey or on ethnic coalition building contact Surendra B. Adhikari, Project Director at 330-535-3263 or email adhikar@uakron.edu.
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Department of Health and Governor
Tom Ridge's Advisory Commission on African American Affairs partnered with the
Pennsylvania Tobacco Prevention Network and sponsored the second statewide
African-American conference on tobacco use and prevention. The two-day conference, "Establishing a
Legacy of Living," included seminars about the dangers of menthol
cigarettes, clean indoor air, and also on how to implement effective smoking
cessation programs.
For more information, contact Amy Zuccolotto at 717-787-1787.
Tennessee
Middle Tennessee State University's Center for
Health and Human Services recently received a $150,000 grant from the state of
Tennessee to study the impact of tobacco advertising on minority youth in
Rutherford County. Students and
professors involved in the three year project are planning to go into churches
to discuss tobacco advertisements with youth groups. One of the program's main goal is to get teens to look at the ads
with a "critical eye." The
hope is that teens will spread the anti-smoking message to their peers at
schools.
For more information, contact Teresa Mastin, PhD, Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism
at 615-904-8239 or tmastin@mtsu.edu.
National News
On December 14th, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released results from the 26th Annual Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF). The study showed the following:
Ø
Past
month use of cigarettes decreased among 8th graders from 17.5 percent in 1999
to 14.6 percent in 2000 and among 12th graders from 34.6 percent to 31.4
percent.
Ø
Use
of cigarettes at least once in the student's lifetime decreased from 44.1
percent in 1999 to 40.5 percent in 2000 among 8th graders and from 57.6 percent
to 55.1 percent among 10th graders.
Ø
Perceived
availability of cigarettes decreased among 8th and 10th graders. Among 8th graders, it declined from 71.5
percent in 1999 to 68.7 percent in 2000, and among 10th graders it went from
88.3 percent to 86.8 percent over the past year.
Ø
Perceived
risk of harm from smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day increased
among 8th graders from 54.8 percent in 1999 to 58.8 percent in 2000 and among
10th graders from 62.7 percent in 1999 to 65.9 percent in 2000.
Ø
While
overall rates of smokeless tobacco use remained stable in the past year, past
month use among seniors has decreased from its peak level of 12.2 percent in
1995 to 7.6 percent in 2000. Also, its
perceived harmfulness among 10th graders increased from 44.2 percent
in 1999 to 46.7 percent in 2000.
For more information, contact Beverly Jackson or Michelle Muth at the
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at 301-443-6245.
California
The Encinitas City Council approved an ordinance
mid- December that bans self-service tobacco displays and the distribution of
tobacco samples. The ordinance also
requires warnings against sales to minors.
Tobacco- product displays are restricted within 1000 feet or less from
schools and playgrounds. No displays
are allowed within 2 feet of candy and nonalcoholic drink displays that might
attract children. In addition, the
tobacco product displays must be 4 feet or higher above the floor.
The council will also consider expanding the
ordinance to require vendors who sell tobacco to get a license.
For more information, contact Debbie Kelley, Project
Director of the Tobacco Free Youth Project of the American Lung Association of
San Diego and Imperial Counties 619-297-3901 or Joyce
Lively, Foundation for Tobacco Free Youth at 760-436-7695.
Florida
Students Working Against Tobacco, or SWAT,
participated in a Tampa County Commission session to help pass an ordinance,
requiring stores to put cigarette displays behind the counter. The ordinance also forbids placing tobacco
ads within 2 feet of candy or snacks and requires the ads to be placed higher
than 4 feet above the floor. However
the ordinance does excludes cigars. The
ordinance will go into effect June 1, 2001.
The Commissioners suggested that they might consider amending the bill
to make allowances for small convenience stores who do not have enough space to
comply with the ordinance.
For more information, contact Ercilia Westhoff, Tobacco Prevention Coordinator, at 813-272-6200 or at
Ercilia_Westhoff@doh.state.fl.us.
Illinois
The Illinois State Legislature passed a ban last
spring on the sale of bidi cigarettes.
This law will take effect come January.
Violators will be fined $100 to $1000.
Illinois is one of the first states to take on bidis, when last year
Chicago became the first city in the nation to ban bidi sales. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) has called the use of tobacco products such as bidis an
"emerging public health problem" among US youth.
For more information, contact Julie Harvill, BS, MPA, Administrator of Illinois Tobacco Prevention
and Control Program, at 217-782-3300.
Iowa
Iowa is implementing retailer/community awareness on
illegal sales of tobacco to minors through a state program entitled "Cops
in Shops." Starting in December, the
Department of Health will pay Iowa police departments $50 each time they check
a vendor for illegal sales. The police
departments must also conduct a youth tobacco program. Vendors will be checked twice a year. Stores will be fined $300 for the first
violation; a 30-day suspension of the store's tobacco permit for a second
violation within a two year period; a 60-day suspension for a third violation
within a five year period and the store's permit will be revoked after a fourth
violation within five years.
Thirty-seven percent of Iowa
teens say they use tobacco products.
Legislators approved the Iowa Pledge program last session because Iowa
stands to lose $5 million in federal grants for substance abuse programs if it
does not lower the percentage of retailers selling tobacco to minors under the
Synar amendment.
For more information, contact Lynn Walding, Administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division at 515/281-7402 or email Lynn.Walding@comm2.state.ia.us.
Maryland
Montgomery County school and
elected officials pledged to support student-led efforts to end smoking among
teenagers. Students have been
initiating the movement themselves. Student
Opposed to Smoking (SOS) told school and elected officials and 100 students
about an experiment they staged to persuade county officials to make cigarettes
less accessible. They simulated the act
of stealing cigarettes in 50 stores around the county. Sometimes they had a friend take a picture for
proof. Store owners stopped the
students in less than 10 stores.
The students presented their
findings to the Montgomery County Council, who passed a law requiring that
cigarettes be kept behind the counter.
This measure goes into effect February 20th.
For more information
contact Wendy
Norcross, Montgomery County Teen Tobacco Prevention Initiative, (301) 469-8678.
Massachusetts
Minors
caught smoking by police or school administrators in Attleboro, MA face a
graduated scale of fines due to a new ordinance. The
fines start at $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second, and $100 for the
third and subsequent offenses. Parents
are notified each time a ticket is issued to minors. If minors fail to pay the fines, a second notice goes out to the
parents. If the fine is not paid within
21 days, a summons to appear in the Attleboro District Court will be mailed to
the minor and legal guardian for a hearing.
To date, 41 tickets have been issued, four court cases are scheduled in
January and most minors have paid their fines.
It is working in Attleboro because the community leaders support it.
About 20% of the 2000 high
school students in Attleboro are regular smokers. Similar policies have been implemented in neighboring towns of
North Attleboro and Seekonk. According
to school officials in these towns, smoking has become a less noticeable
presence on school property.
For
more information, contact Elaine
La Roche, Director of the Tobacco Control Program, at 508-223-2222 x 3172.
New Jersey
The New Jersey Department of
Health and Senior Services and Scholastic, Inc. co-sponsored the "Tell
Someone You Love" letter-writing campaign. The state's 12,000 third and fourth grade teachers were invited
to participate in this innovative educational activity where teachers conducted
a classroom session on the hazards of smoking.
Following the session and interactive discussion, teachers asked
students to write a letter expressing in their own words why someone they cared
about should quit smoking. Children
wrote to close family members, relatives, friends, entertainers and sports
personalities who smoke. In addition to
the letter, smokers received information on quit-smoking resources, including
New Jersey Quitnet and New Jersey Quitline, two new interactive counseling
services. All children who
participated in the campaign received a Certificate of Recognition from the
Commissioner.
Also,
REBEL - Reaching Everyone By Exposing Lies - an initiative developed by and for
teens to combat tobacco industry marketing tactics was launched on November
18-19 at a youth weekend in McAfee, NJ, organized by the Department of Health
and Senior Services. More than 320 teens spent the weekend learning how the tobacco industry
targets youth and developed leadership and advocacy skills to fight tobacco
industry tactics. They explored ways to
communicate their message through the use of music, dance, literature and art
to educate others about the dangers of tobacco.
Following the weekend, the
teens returned to their communities to create local grassroots campaigns. They will work throughout the year with a
state-funded youth mentor in each of New Jersey's 21 counties.
For more information, contact Janice Mayer at 609-292-4414.
Oregon
Oregon state officials released data at the end of
October showing a dramatic drop in youth and adult smoking since 1996, with a
reduction in eighth grade by 41 percent.
The data cam from surveys conducted beginning in 1996 by the Health Division
and a public school drug use survey by the Office of Drug and Alcohol this
year. Research found that:
·
Eighth
grade smoking is down 41 percent, from 22 percent in 1996 to 13 in 2000.
·
Eleventh
grade smoking is down 21 percent since 1996, from 28 percent in 1996 to 22
percent in 2000.
·
Adult
smoking is down 13 percent since 1996, from 23 percent in 1996 to 20 percent in
2000.
Marty Wasserman, Administrator of the Oregon Health
Division added, "This [tobacco prevention] program is working because it
has a comprehensive approach. Smoke
workplace ordinances, community education activities, smoking cessation
programs, school-based programs and very visible anti-smoking commercials and
billboards have made a strong impact."
Oregon's tobacco prevention and education program is funded by a tobacco-tax
increase approved by voters in 1996.
Ten percent of the new revenue is allocated to tobacco use prevention
and reduction.
For
more information, contact Ann Blaker,
Tobacco Prevention Program Manger, at 503-731-4273 or ann.m.blaker@state.or.us
Rhode Island
Rhode Island enacted a new
law restricting internet tobacco sales to minors. Web retailers and mail order companies must obtain valid
identification and signature from the buyer, ensuring that they are 18 or
older. The Department of Health is
setting up enforcement operations and violators will be fined a minimum of
$1000. This is just one way to curb
minors' access to tobacco. One figure
from industry analysts suggest that Internet sales could account for 10% or
more of all cigarette sales in the US in the next decade.
For
more information, contact Betty Harvey,
Program Manager, at 401-222-6054.
Wisconsin
Cigarette use among Wisconsin high school students
has dropped five percentage points according to the 2000 Wisconsin Youth
Tobacco Survey (YTS). Teen rates are
down to 33 percent reporting having smoked at least one cigarette in the past
30 days compared to 38 percents in the 1999 Wisconsin youth Risk Factor
Behavior Survey (YRBS).
For
more information, contact Catherine Brue,
Tobacco Project Manager, at 608-266-8322.
California
Two new studies out of California show that tobacco
prevention programs are working. The
first study by the CDC and California Department of Health Services found the
incidence of lung and bronchial cancers dropped by 14 percent in California
from 1988 to 1997. The decline was more
dramatic than in eight other regions of the United States, where rates dropped
just 2.7 percent. While lung cancer
rates have risen 13 percent among women in other regions, they dropped 4.8
percent in California. For men, the
decrease was even more dramatic with a decrease in California by 23 percent
while the rest of the nation saw a 13 percent decrease.
A second
study from the University of California, San Francisco showed that the
California Tobacco Control Program already saved more than 33,000 lives that
would have been lost to heart disease. The analysis covered the first nine years of the anti-smoking
tobacco program launched in 1989 and found heart disease deaths in California
declined about 5 percent faster than expected, compared to state and national
trends. The study also said that as many
as 8,300 deaths may have occurred between 1993 and 1997 because of reduced
effectiveness and program changes that
paralleled budget cuts.
For
more information on the California Department of Health Services study, visit
MMWR at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4947a4.htm
For
a copy of the UCSF study, visit the New
England Journal of Medicine's website at http://www.nejm.org/content/2000/0343/0024/1772.asp.
For
more information on the UCSF study contact
Dr. Stan Glantz at glantz@medicine.ucsf.edu
Connecticut
Connecticut's
tobacco prevention program distributed movie trailers to be shown before
feature presentations at theaters throughout the state for several weeks during
the holiday season. The trailer's
contains tobacco prevention messages, including the new state anti-tobacco Web
site, www.TobaccoFreeCT.com and information concerning cessation. Both the trailer and Web site are paid for
with state tobacco settlement dollars through the Office of Policy and
Management.
For more information, contact Mariade Sullivan at 860-418-6351.
Idaho
Idaho launched its
new anti-smoking media campaign the last week in November. The $570,000 media campaign was paid for
with interest from the Millennium Fund, a trust fund created with settlement
dollars. The television ads are running
throughout the state, including North Idaho cable networks and the Spokane
television market. The state is
purchasing air time for the ads, with TV stations matching that by running one
ad free for every paid ad. The media
campaign will eventually include radio, print and billboard ads.
For more information, contact Kristy Jones, Tobacco/Cancer Prevention
Supervisor, at 208-334-4936 or jonesk@idhw.state.id.us.
Louisiana
Louisiana will be
expanding a smoking cessation hotline operated by the American Lung Association
with master settlement dollars. The ALA
is adding trained nurse/counselors to the hotline staff. A media campaign to publicize the quitline
will begin on January 2nd.
The Office of Public Health will also be referring patients who meet
certain criteria to ALA-sponsored cessation clinics in five areas of the state.
For more
information, contact Diane
Hargrove-Roberson, M.S.W., Administrator of Health Communication or Shawn Williams,
MSW, Program Specialist, at 504-568-7210
Massachusetts and Rhode Island
Massachusetts and
Rhode Island are conducting a joint media campaign to promote cessation and the
use of a new interactive website, www.trytostop.org. The campaign will continue in the spring and
will focus on the dangers of environmental tobacco smoke. There is active discussion among other New
England states about expanding the media campaign.
Pam Laffin, a
young women with emphysema featured in a series of Massachusetts ads, died on
October 31st while awaiting a lung transplant. Massachusetts will be retaging the existing
ads and producing a new 60 second ad about her untimely death. These ads will made available to other
states through CDC shortly.
New Jersey
The Department unveiled two cessation services in
October: 1) New Jersey Quitline, a
toll-free telephone counseling treatment service; and 2) New Jersey Quitnet
(SM), www.nj.quitnet.com, an innovative online
treatment program that is tailored for individual needs. New Jersey Quitnet
provides online peer support groups and access to trained counselors.
Registered users can also receive email messages of encouragement and
information about medication that promotes quitting. For those who prefer talking to a 'real person,' Quitline offers
the caring ear of trained counselors in 26 different languages. It is available six days a week and is open
to all ages. Quitline is provided by
the Mayo Foundation through a contract with DHHS. Quitnet is provided by Join Together through a contract with
DHHS. Furthermore, face-to-face smoking cessation counseling services will be
offered at eight pilot sites beginning in December.
These new cessation tools are complemented by a new
state program which went into effect on November 6th, requiring HMOs and health
insurance plans to provide free, comprehensive annual physicals to millions of
New Jersey adults. The New Jersey Health Wellness Promotion Act requires many
insurers to provide a 17-point "Healthful Life Program" aimed at
encouraging healthier living and disease prevention. A physician or nurse practitioner must counsel patients on a
variety of topics, including smoking cessation.
For
more information, contact Ed Kazimir at 609-292-4414.
Pennsylvania
On
November 15th, a new smoking cessation program for pregnant women,
the STOP (Stop Tobacco in Pregnancy) program, began operation in low income
communities in Pittsburgh--the Hill District and Braddock. This free, two-year program combines
information and support to encourage women to stop or at least cut down on
smoking during pregnancy. Women are followed throughout pregnancy and for 3
months postpartum. Participants attend individual counseling sessions where
they receive self-help and educational materials and use a hand-held carbon
monoxide monitor that provides a measurement of the amount of carbon monoxide
in their lungs from smoking. They are encouraged to bring a "buddy"
or partner to counseling sessions to lend support. Participants receive small
gifts for coming to sessions and for every time they can demonstrate they have
not smoked. Partners are also entitled to receive incentives. Transportation to
the counseling sessions can be provided. The location and number of sessions is
very flexible (they can choose location and time of appointments) . After
evaluation of program outcome results, expansion of the program will be a
possibility. The program is funded by the Community Initiatives Department of
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and is provided in
partnership with Magee-Women's Hospital, Western Psychiatric Institute and
Clinic and UPMC-Braddock.
For more information,
contact Patricia Gonzalez, Ms; M.Ed. CRC,
STOP Program Coordinator at (412) 551-8694 or gonzalezpe@msx.upmc.edu
Washington
On November 15th, Washington State Department of Health launched a new statewide, toll-free Tobacco Quit Line, paid for with master settlement dollars. Callers will be provided with individualized, one-on-one counseling from specialists, assessment of each caller's readiness to quit and development of a customized quit plan over the phone, skill building and problem solving advice, relapse prevention techniques, pharmacological support information, referrals to available community cessation support resources and a Quit Kit, including materials tailored for the caller
Furthermore, in an effort to generate calls to the Quit Line, the Department of Health has partnered with the Building Ow