Improving Life, One Breath at a Time®
tobacco control | asthma | events | volunteer | financial | news | links | contact
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Improving Life, One Breath at a Time® |
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tobacco control | asthma | events | volunteer | financial | news | links | contact |
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The mission of the American Lung Association is to prevent lung disease and promote lung health.
1-877-966-8784 or 304-599-6981.
Last updated 9/22/2004
©1999 by ALAWV, Inc. All rights reserved |
Through Raze, teens tear down tobacco lies From The Charleston Gazette-Mail Saturday, April 07, 2007
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/FlipSide/2007040635
By Brittany Ireland George Washington High School (Charleston)
You've heard about it. You've seen the commercials. You know friends who are in it.
But do you know what Raze is all about?
It's an organization for West Virginia teen’s smokers and nonsmokers alike to learn about the detrimental effects of tobacco use and spread the word to other teens. West Virginia was once the No. 1 tobacco-using state in the nation, so it’s important for teens, who are the future of the state, to get together to help make it healthier.
In 2002, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources and the West Virginia Department of Education started Raze, which has since helped thousands of students decide to stop smoking or never to start. A conference was held that year and teenagers chose the organization’s name, which means to tear down or demolish (as in “tear down tobacco lies,” the group’s slogan).
The teenagers didn’t just get to choose the name, though. They run the whole show except for the budget. The group’s Teen Advisory Council has input into such Raze issues as advertising, public relations and new Raze events.
The secretary of the TAC is Zach Wallace, a senior at George Washington High School. You may have seen him in the group’s “Save Face” commercials as well as at Raze events.
Wallace first got involved with Raze in 2003. “I have experienced a lot of my family members using tobacco. It’s just something that I have always been against. I had a neighbor who died from using tobacco,” he continued. “I actually stopped my mom from smoking when I was a kid.”
His mom was the first of many people that have stopped smoking thanks to Wallace’s determination.
But just as Raze may have a profound effect on the people it helps educate, it also has had a strong effect on many members, like senior Brittany White, a fellow member of Wallace’s “crew” at GW.
“Ever since I’ve been in Raze, I’ve heard and seen many things that will stay in my mind forever. It will be easy for me to decide to never smoke,” White said.
The members of Raze strive to make these things well known to other West Virginia teenagers. In 2005, the group’s “One Voice Matters ...Yours” campaign challenged teens to speak out against tobacco, and Raze members regularly hold “commotions,” or creative anti-tobacco activities that are designed to be attention-getting and informative.
A major event that Raze sponsors annually is the Raze-On anti-tobacco teen summit, where local and national celebrities show teens the reality of using tobacco. This year’s event will be held June 10-12 at the University of Charleston.
If you are a teen between the ages of 13 and 18, you can join Raze. Every middle and high school in the state has its own Raze crew, so you can talk to members at your school if you are interested in joining the fight against tobacco lies. You can also find plenty of information at www.razewv.com.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSCOL26981120070412 Research Summary Researchers say that smoking takes a silent but significant toll on the health of the hearts of young smokers, Reuters reported April 12. A team of Polish scientists found that smoking seems to impair the heart's ability to relax between beats, reducing the ability of the heart to pump blood. The conclusions were drawn from a study of 66 healthy 20- to 40-year-olds, using ultrasound scans. Half the group was comprised of smokers who consumed 10-25 cigarettes per day. Researcher Barbara Lichodziejewska and associates at Warsaw Medical University said that the impairment of the left ventricle of the heart was an early sign of serious heart problems. The study appears in the April 2007 issue of the journal Chest.
Reference: This article summarizes a mainstream media report of research published in a scientific journal. It is not an original analysis of the source material, which is cited in the reference above.
Quitting Smoking? Check Your Diet April 10, 2007
Research Summary If you want to quit smoking, it may be a good idea to also cut meat, coffee and alcohol out of your diet, researchers say. WebMD reported April 5 that a study from Duke University found that these foods and beverages were among the items that made smoking taste better, while things like vegetables, fruit and dairy products made smoking taste bad.
"The conventional wisdom is that cigarette addiction is all about the nicotine," said lead researcher F. Joseph McClernon, Ph.D. "But we are learning more and more it is also about sensory effects like the taste and the smell and the visual experience and the habitual routines of smoking. The taste effects are important."
McClernon and colleagues surveyed more than 200 long-term, pack-a-day smokers about the interaction of smoking, food and drink. Almost 70 percent said that certain foods made cigarettes taste better and 45 percent said some foods made smoking taste worse. "We were surprised that smokers would say anything would make their cigarettes taste worse," said McClernon.
The study found that menthol smokers tended to say that their cigarettes tasted the same no matter what they ate. That's bad news for black smokers trying to quit, since 90 percent of study participants who were black smoked menthols. "This study suggests that menthol lessens the effect of taste deadening or enhancing," said Scott McIntosh, Ph.D., of the University of Rochester, who directs a local smoking-cessation program. "And you are more likely to be addicted if you are not affected by variations in taste and pleasure."
Addiction counselors already advise smokers to eat certain foods when they are quitting, like celery, the researchers noted. "The idea is to get the smoker to do something with the hands and mouth that is not smoking -- but it might actually be good to engage in some of these behaviors before quitting, to alter the taste," McClernon said. "We might ask clinicians to ask patients getting ready to quit to start consuming healthy dairy products also to see if they can alter their smoking behavior that way."
The authors next plan to look into why certain foods make smoking taste good or bad. The study appears in the April 2007 issue of the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research.
This article summarizes a mainstream media report of research published in a scientific journal. It is not an original analysis of the source material, which is cited in the reference above.
Spring & Summer 2007 Things to do – Ways to help
The mission of the American Lung Association is to prevent lung disease and promote lung health.
Your Help and Support is Needed!
If you are interested in volunteering or participating in any of our events, in Charleston please call 342-6600, elsewhere in WV 1-800-LUNG-USA and ask to speak with Deb Qualls
Who: Morgantown Community is invited What: World Asthma Day Fun Run/Walk to raise awareness for asthma When: May 1, 2007 Registration is 3:45-4:15pm Fun Run/Walk is 4:15-5:15pm Where: Restored Train Depot at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park in Morgantown, WV MORGANTOWN, W.V.CELEBRATES WORLD ASTHMA DAY
[MORGANTOWN, WV, Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park] - In the United States alone, 6.2 million children suffer from asthma, which accounts for one third of all pediatric emergency room visits. In addition, asthma is the fourth most common reason for pediatric physician office visits, and is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism. West Virginia has the 4th highest prevalence of childhood asthma and the 2nd highest rate of elderly asthma in the nation.
In response to these alarming statistics, and in an effort to raise public awareness of the risks faced everyday by 20 million Americans living with asthma, the School Health Education Conference (SHEC) is joining the American Lung Association, the Asthma Education and Prevention Program, and the West Virginia Asthma Coalition to host a World Asthma Day Celebration Fun Run/Walk event on May 1, 2007 at the restored train depot at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park in Morgantown, West Virginia. Registration will be from 3:45-4:15pm and the event will take place from 4:15-5:15pm.
Specialists will be set up to share asthma education information with the community, along with pulmonary function testing, and activities for children. This event is free to the public.
All across the world, events are being held in May as part of Asthma Awareness Month. Each event will raise awareness about indoor and outdoor pollutants that trigger asthma and ways to prevent children’s asthma episodes.
For more information on the burden of asthma in West Virginia or about World Asthma Day log on to www.alawv.org or www.wvasthma.org.
We have a total of 259 school staff (teachers, counselors, nurses, etc.) certified to provide the program. We have 17 County Board of Education Staff; 57 community members/volunteers; and 23 certified facilitators that work at other institutions i.e. Boys * Girls clubs, juvenile detention centers, alternative schools, private schools, residential clinics etc... In all we have 356 Active Certified Facilitators
ATS YTD Statistics So far this grant year we’ve had 160 evals turned in, the quit rate is 17% and the reduce rate is 18%.
NOT YTD Statistics So far this grant year we’ve had 188 evals turned in, the quit rate is 20% and the reduce rate is 60%. We still have 33 programs that have not submitted their evals and 25 programs that participated in the WVU studies. So I expect this number to go up drastically once I start receiving evaluation packets.
By my estimates we have 330 Middle, High and Vocational schools in the state of those 136 (42%) have certified facilitators working in the school. We also have 8 private schools that have trained facilitators.
The following schools are providing or have provide N-O-T & ATS programs in their schools this year.
NOT ON TOBACCO PROGRAMS
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