Celebrating the Great American Smokeout
Encouraging all ages to take steps toward a tobacco-free life
[LIBERTY, NY] The Great American Smokeout, a nationwide quit smoking day created by the American Cancer Society, is recognized annually on the third Thursday in November. It promotes smoking cessation, encouraging individuals to quit or make a plan to quit, and commit to a healthier, smoke-free life.
Sullivan 180 and partners in the Coalition for a Vape Free Sullivan have been working collectively to help Sullivan County youth stay smoke-free. During the month of November, Sullivan 180 presented two CATCH My Breath Facilitator Trainings, certifying 62 educators and school nurses in evidence-based vaping prevention. November’s Coalition for a Vape-Free Sullivan meeting featured a speaker from the national organization PAVe (Parents Against Vaping e-Cigarettes) sharing restorative practices for schools to utilize when responding to student vaping issues. A film titled “Vaping & Viruses: Your Lungs, Your Life” was shown to nearly 200 Fallsburg students. The month will round out the kickoff of two additional CATCH My Breath school-based programs.
Although it has declined, cigarette smoking still causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. Youth vaping is following a similar pattern to that of earlier cigarette smoking. Just as cigarette use led to widespread health consequences, early nicotine exposure from vaping can increase the likelihood of addiction and future tobacco use, with e-cigarette users at 3x the odds of smoking traditional cigarettes, according to CATCH My Breath.
“Youth vaping raises new concerns because it introduces nicotine during a critical time in brain development,” said Amanda Langseder, Sullivan 180 Senior Director of Prevention Programming. “Many teens who vape may not realize that the same addictive substance that drove decades of cigarette-related disease is now delivered through flavored, high-nicotine devices.”
CATCH My Breath is a prevention program, not a cessation program. Yet participant survey data showed that of students who reported using vapes, 24% (14 students) considered quitting upon graduating from the program.
“Prevention, intervention, and cessation all go hand in hand,” said Nicole Blais, Sullivan 180 Outreach Coordinator. “The most important thing we can do for everyone, those who do use tobacco and nicotine products and those who don’t, is to share information. Programs like CATCH My Breath, the EX Program from the Truth Initiative, and Freedom from Smoking, INDEPTH, and Not On Tobacco from the American Lung Association all provide resources for individuals of all ages to make informed decisions about tobacco and nicotine use.”
To learn more about the Great American Smokeout or to start your quit journey today, visit the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org