Tag Archives: Tobacco Free Living

2016 Town Hall Meetings: Youth Use of Tobacco & E-Cigarettes

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The Tobacco Free Living action team (TFL) of the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership facilitated a 2-part Town Hall Series on underage tobacco and e-cigarette use.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Selling tobacco products to youth under the age of 18 is illegal, yet nearly 9 out of 10 smokers started smoking by the age of 18 and about 19% of St. Mary’s County high school students use tobacco; higher than state and national averages. Please join us for these open community conversation about underage tobacco and e-cigarette use in St. Mary’s County.

For more information on the TFL Action Team please visit: https://healthystmarys.com/tobacco-free-living/

The 2016 Town Hall Series on Underage Tobacco and E-Cigarette Use was a great success! Thank you to everyone who attended these community conversations. Presentations from each town hall are available below.  

Part 1: Underage Tobacco Use

Special Guest Speaker: William Tilburg, JD, Deputy Director of the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy based at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. William has authored legal synopses on local authority to restrict the sale of tobacco products and regulating tobacco products based on pack size for the Tobacco Control Legal Consortium, and filed petitions and public comments to the Food and Drug Administration requesting the agency regulate cigars and other non-cigarette tobacco products and reject tobacco manufacturer applications seeking designation as modified risk tobacco products.

Click here to view the meeting presentation.

Part 2:  E-Cigarette Use

 

Special Guest Speaker: Olesya K. Vernyi-Kellogg, J.D., is a staff attorney with the Legal Resource Center for Public Health Policy at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. Olesya will present on related federal, state, and local regulations, provide a general assembly legislative update, and share some of the latest scientific studies on e-cigarette health effects.

Click here to view the meeting presentation.

For more information, call 301-475-4391

The Great American Smokeout

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November 19 Quit Like a Champion, Great American Smokeout Banner

Get ready to lose the habit, and become victorious over tobacco.

Every year, on the third Thursday of November, smokers across the nation take part in the American Cancer Society event the Great American Smokeout. The Great American Smokeout challenges people to stop using tobacco for this one day in the hope they may quit for good.

About 42 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. In St. Mary’s County, 25% of adults and 19% of youth are currently using tobacco products. Quitting — even for one day — has immediate and long term benefits for smokers and their loved ones.

On November 19, 2015, the Tobacco Free Living Action Team of the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership did outreach throughout St. Mary’s to celebrate the Great American Smokeout. Community members were encouraged to sign a pledge to quit smoking and were offered a free Quit-Kit to help!

Over 200 individuals were reached with these efforts!

Thank you to the following locations for participating in the Great American Smokeout:

Thank you to the partners of the Tobacco Free Living action Team for coordinating this event locally. Special thanks to the St. Mary’s County Health Department, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital, the Minority Outreach Coalition, Walden Behavioral Health,  the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions and MedStar Family Choice. 

There are many tools that can help people quit and increase their chances of staying quit. For more information visit https://healthystmarys.com/tobacco-free-living/ or call (301) 475-4330.

Great American Smokeout Materials 

 

November 19 Quit Like a Champion, Great American Smokeout Banner

County Health Rankings

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County Rankings St. Mary's

Positive Report for St. Mary’s

LEONARDTOWN, MD (March 26, 2015) – St. Mary’s County ranks as the fifth healthiest county in Maryland, according to the sixth annual County Health Rankings, released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. This ranking reflects an improvement from eighth in 2014.

The County Health Rankings are an annual report that grade the overall health of nearly every county in the United States. The Rankings provide a snapshot of a community’s health, and helps to identify issues and implement solutions to create healthier places to live, learn, work and play. The St. Mary’s County ranking was positively impacted by local improvements in social and economic factors, quality of life, and premature death.  Since the 2011 Rankings, premature death in the county has decreased by 13 percent.

“Community partners, county leadership, health care providers, and our residents should take pride in knowing that work done to improve their own health, as well as the health of our community, has yielded such positive results,” said Dr. Meena Brewster, St. Mary’s County Health Officer. “The rankings also reaffirms priority areas that our local health improvement coalition, the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership, has identified and continues to address—access to care, healthy eating and active living, behavioral health, and tobacco-free living.”

The Rankings allow for relative comparisons between counties within a state on overall health and well-being. These comparisons are based on an assessment of four areas that influence health: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and the physical environment. These factors are rated using local-level data from 30 measures that include smoking, education, physical inactivity, preventable hospitalizations, and the availability of primary care physicians.

Rates of adult smoking and obesity, preventable hospitalizations, and the ratios of residents to health professionals, including primary care physicians, dentists and mental health providers were areas where St. Mary’s County ranked low when compared to the other 23 Maryland counties.

“While the trend of an improving county health ranking for St. Mary’s is very encouraging,” said Dr. Brewster, “I am concerned about the challenges we face with access to care and risk factors leading to chronic illness. With the help of community stakeholders and the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership, we continue to seek solutions for these issues.”

The Rankings are available online at www.countyhealthrankings.org. For additional information visit the health department’s website at www.smchd.org or the Healthy St. Mary’s Partnership website at www.healthystmarys.com.

Quit Tobacco

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Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year. Smoking causes immediate damage to your body, which can lead to long-term health problems. For every smoking-related death, at least 30 Americans live with a smoking-related illness. The only proven strategy to protect yourself from harm is to never smoke, and if you do smoke or use tobacco products, to quit. Quitting smoking has immediate as well as long-term benefits for smokers and their loved ones.

How to Quit

One of the keys to a successful quit is preparation. A great way to prepare to quit smoking is to create a quit plan.

FREE Quit Tobacco Classes and other resources are offered locally for persons who are ready to quit using tobacco through the St. Mary’s County Health Department.

All tobacco users can also take advantage of the FREE  Maryland Tobacco Quitline available 24 hours a day, seven days per week by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW.

Quit Tobacco

Text QUIT to 47848, answer a few questions, and you’ll start receiving support to help you quit via text.

Click here to access more information and resources, as well as to hear tips from former tobacco users.

Content Sources: Centers for Disease Control, St. Mary's County Health Department, Smokefree.gov

Fraudulent ID Training

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Spread the word about this FREE training that is being offered by the Community Alcohol Coalition (CAC) in partnership with the St. Mary’s Sheriffs Department.

This training will educate servers, sellers, management, and owners on correct alcohol and tobacco sales and service practices.

If you or your staff are responsible for serving and/or selling alcohol or tobacco, then you know compliance is critical. Keeping informed and up to date on the most recent requirements can be challenging. This training program is designed to educate servers. seller, management and owners on correct alcohol and tobacco sales and service practices.

There are TWO sessions scheduled, a morning and an afternoon option to allow for flexibility. This is an opportunity for those involved in the sale of alcohol and tobacco to be informed on the most current polices and to network with peers and county officials.

Participants receive a “Certificate of Completion” and resource materials will be available.

All participants arc also eligible to receive door prizes.

Location
Bay District Volunteer Fire Department 46900 S Shangri-La Drive Lexington Park, MD
Date
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Two Time Slots Available 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Trainer
Cpl. James R. Stone
Alcohol Enforcement Coordinator Special Operations Division

Participants MUST RSVP by March 24th to:
Kendall Wood Program Coordinator
Phone: 240-434-7659
Fax: 30,475.6143
Email: Kendall.E.Wood@medstar.net