FACT SHEET THREE
The Teaming Up Against Tobacco Project aims to assess and address what tobacco prevention and cessation programming and resources are available on the community level in Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Mason counties.
The Teaming Up Against Tobacco Project aims to assess and address what tobacco prevention and cessation programming and resources are available on the community level in Cabell, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Mason counties.
Teresa Mills is the Prevention Coordinator and Tobacco Treatment Specialist at Cabell-Huntington Health Department. She has over 25 years of Tobacco Prevention and Cessation experience.
Teresa interviewed 12 health and community stakeholders in the four-county project area to discuss the state of tobacco control in the communities they serve, community resources available, and recommendations to improve the way we prevent and treat tobacco use in West Virginia.
PREVAILING THEMES FROM THEIR DISCUSSIONS:
Not enough funding exists on the local level. Making a substantial change in West Virginia’s high prevalence rates of tobacco use will take a long-term financial commitment. Currently, whatever funding there is for tobacco prevention education usually comes from federal grants. As one stakeholder put it, “The amount of smokers and vapers far exceeds the amount of resources that are in these communities.”
Youth vaping remains one of our biggest challenges. Vaping is perceived as not being as harmful as straight cigarettes or other tobacco products, and vaping rates are high among the youth in the four-county area. Stakeholders suggested that more funding should be targeted to address education and vaping prevention.
Better collaboration should be fostered between local stakeholders to implement community-based strategies to help people quit. Such challenges as the cost of nicotine replacement therapy, for example, need to be addressed, but it’s often difficult for one organization to get the attention of state-level policymakers. By working together, groups can identify and articulate what’s needed to ensure, if funding is available, that resources are appropriately allocated.
Teaming Up Against Tobacco
QUOTES FROM INTERVIEWEES:
““ I do not see any commitment at the state level, the county level, or the city level to invest any of their funding in any type of prevention education around vaping, tobacco use, and even alcohol and drugs.”
“I don’t think the local powers understand the importance of investing and setting aside money in their budgets to help fund those prevention programs.”
“There is money out there to make things happen, but it doesn’t target what we really need to address, and who we have to address it, and where we are in our readiness scale for addressing it.”
“We’re going to have astronomical adult smoking rates with these kids vaping because it’s not curtailed early on.”
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“I have seen folks who were tobacco users who have switched to vaping, and they are vaping at a higher level than they were when they were smoking cigarettes.”
“We have an influx in poorly regulated vape and tobacco stores.”
“The sooner we can educate them (children), the easier it will be. I think we need to educate them on the benefits of not even starting.”
“I feel like being in the school system and having to go for 7 to 8 hours without smoking or vaping is really hard on the kids. I mean, that’s something that I’m concerned about.”
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“People do not quit smoking until there is a health issue and are so far gone… We have a chance at educating our kids about it so that the next generation can be a lot healthier.”
“I don’t even think the community is in a place to… They are in a pre-contemplative state where they are not even sure that it is a problem or not even a place where they were contemplating that something could be done to change things.”
“When people are ready for help, they will get help, but just talking about the problem is certainly not gonna help it, so bringing the information to the people and meeting them where they are at is important.”
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Learn more about the project on Think Kids’ website: https://thinkkidswv.org. Thanks to the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington for their support of this project.