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| navigate: home: magazine: winter 1999: article | |
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Montgomery County coalition unites residents in fight against tobacco use By Deborah A. Benedetti | ||||||
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Montgomery County, in partnership with Penn State Cooperative Extension, dedicated an entire day to discouraging the use of tobacco products among youth. Pennsylvania Attorney General Michael Fisher was the featured speaker during a series of special events and awarded prizes to students participating in the Attorney General’s “Operation Kick Butts” Poster Contest. At Gotwals Elementary School in Norristown, he was joined by the Souderton Youth-to-Youth Peer Education group, which presented an anti-tobacco program to elementary students. Fisher also spoke to school children at East Goshen Elementary School in West Chester and to local school teachers at the Teens Against Tobacco Use Facilitator’s Training conference. Fisher was so impressed with the Souderton students’ presentation that he invited the group to make presentations at other schools, Mary Miller, extension agent with Penn State Cooperative Extension in Montgomery County, said. To help with transportation, Fisher awarded the students a grant to buy a van. “We are grateful to Attorney General Fisher for his support of efforts to educate and empower youth and adults in Montgomery County to help prevent addiction to tobacco,” Miller said. “Cigarette smoking is the single most important avoidable cause of disease, disability and death in the United States. As community leaders, we want to do everything we can to prevent tobacco use.” Miller chairs the Montgomery County Coalition for a Tobacco Free Youth and works closely with Diana J. Klotz, tobacco control manager for the Montgomery County Health Department, to promote the health and well-being of county residents. The Montgomery County Coalition for a Tobacco Free Youth includes representatives from more than 20 organizations involved in education, health and safety. The coalition was formed as a result of a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health to Penn State Cooperative Extension in collaboration with Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The project was designed to develop community-based youth tobacco control coalitions; promote partnerships among adults, youth and community resources to address local and statewide youth-related tobacco control issues; and expand interest and involvement in tobacco and youth issues beyond the organizations and individuals that historically have participated in tobacco control. In Montgomery County, the coalition helped establish the Teens Against Tobacco Use organization, involving Montgomery County high school student volunteers and local teachers who serve as advisers; compiled Tobacco Lending Boxes, hands-on age-appropriate curricula and videos for use by teachers and youth organizations; and hosted Tobacco Conferences to educate and train teachers and student volunteers. Coalition participants include the Pennsylvania Tobacco Prevention Network, Pennsylvania Department of Health, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Montgomery County Health Department, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, Cheltenham Health Department, Lansdale Health Department, Perkiomen Valley School District, Souderton Area School District and Montgomery County Fire Academy. Penn State Cooperative Extension, with offices in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania, touches the lives of more than 2 million Pennsylvanians annually through a wide variety of educational and informational programs. An outreach program of Penn State Cooperative Extension | |||||
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