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The mission 

of the American Lung Association is to prevent lung disease and promote lung health.

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or 

304-599-6981.

Last updated 9/22/2004

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ALAWV, Inc.

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   IN THE NEWS:

Pregnant Teens Smoke to Reduce Birthweight
October 13, 2006

News Summary

A British health official said that some pregnant teen girls are smoking cigarettes in a deliberate attempt to lower birth weight and ease the pain of childbirth, Bloomberg News reported Oct. 6.

U.K. Public Health Minister Caroline Flint reported the trend, saying she had learned about the practice from healthcare workers. Officials said the teens had apparently heard warnings about the effect of smoking on birth weight and misinterpreted the information. "Childbirth is no less painful if your baby is low weight," Flint noted. "So smoking is not the answer; pain relief is."

Babies born to smokers are an average of 7.1 ounces lighter than those born to nonsmokers. But smokers also have a 26-percent higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth. 

I also would like to congratulate the following schools which are providing N-O-T & ATS programs in their schools this year.

    NOT ON TOBACCO PROGRAMS

  School                                              Contact

ALTERNATIVE TO SUSPENSION PROGRAMS

School                                              Contact

REMINDERS

Don’t forget to order your student journals at least one week before your program is scheduled to start.

Another way of getting incentives is community donations. Explain to local businesses that you are trying to help teens stop smoking, and you will get anything from pizza to sodas donated. This is an excellent way of forming education/community partnerships.

STIPENDS

The West Virginia Department of Education’s continued support of the N-O-T program is allowing us to once again provide the $250 stipend for N-O-T classes and $100 stipends for ATS classes. Please remember that stipends are only awarded after all evaluation materials have been returned, unlike the $50 mini-grants that are provided before you begin your sessions.

Incentives   

Mini-Grants

$50 mini-grants are available to get your groups started.  The mini-grant can be used to purchase pencils, stress balls and most importantly, food!  We have heard many times, “If you feed them, they will come!”  Applying for the mini-grant is easy click HERE. 

N-O-T Stipends

Another positive incentive are the $250 stipends, which are available for facilitators after all evaluation materials have been returned to ALAWV.

Student Journals

Program expenses are kept to a minimum since we provide all required handouts for students in this “journal.” Blank pages are provided for the students to write on.

 ATS Stipends

Thanks to a generous grant from the Department of Education Office Of Healthy schools we now have $100 stipends available for facilitators who use the ATS program in their schools.

You can find all these resources and more at our web site click here à N-O-T

Free Technical Assistance! Points of contacts are:

Tony Richards, Program Manager

Not On Tobacco (N-O-T)

American Lung Association of West Virginia

415 Dickinson Street, PO Box 3980

Charleston, WV 25339-3980

(304) 342-6600; 1-800-LUNG-USA

tony@alawv.org / www.alawv.org

Regional Tobacco Prevention Specialist

The RESA Tobacco Prevention Program serves as the regional liaison with the school districts to provide training, technical assistance, and staff development to teachers and staff in the areas of tobacco prevention, education and cessation. Available programs include Life Skills Training, Raze/TATU (Teens Against Tobacco) N-O-T (Not On Tobacco-a research-based cessation program for teens), related youth programs which include tobacco prevention initiatives, tobacco policy considerations and community tobacco prevention coalitions and groups. The Tobacco Prevention Specialist can assist with developing alternatives to suspension programs, youth empowerment and prevention activities. The primary focus is to provide training and technical assistance on any implementation activities as well as provide assistance to County Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinators.

Community Development Specialists are trained professionals who work locally in their communities to enhance West Virginia’s prevention system. They provide individuals, families, agencies, organizations, and other groups with technical assistance and training to build capacity for sustainable community-based prevention efforts. To find your Community Development Specialist click here.

Newsletter Updates

If you know of something happening with the N-O-T program that you feel other facilitators would benefit from, please call Tony (304)342-6600 or email tony@alawv.org. The newsletter will be published once a month.

If you are interested in our programs and would like more information, or would like to schedule a visit, please call our office.   

Tobacco Websites and Other Interesting Links

New Website “TheScoopOnSmoking” was designed to present in a highly accessible, interactive manner, detailed facts about the health consequences of tobacco use.

Why do we feel that there is a need for this website?

Too often teens (and adults) are simply told that using tobacco -- particularly smoking cigarettes -- is "dangerous." Even the government-mandated warning label gives only a few words of caution -- all in very general terms. But the devil is in the details. ACSH's site -- which is based on a teen-version of ACSH's classic publication "Cigarettes: What the Warning Label Doesn't Tell You: The First Comprehensive Guide to the Health Consequences of Smoking" -- gives specific details of tobacco's deleterious impact on every site of the body and every organ system.

 American Lung Associationà www.alawv.org

Data & Statistics à http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=33347

Not On Tobacco (N-O-T) à http://www.alawv.org/NOT_folder/NOT.htm

Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU) à http://www.alawv.org/TATU_folder/TATU.htm

West Virginia Prevention Resource Center (WVPRC) à http://www.prevnet.org/

RAZE à www.razewv.com

Tobacco News à www.tobacco.org

National Spit Tobacco Education Program à www.nstep.org

West Virginia Department of Education

http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/

This site gives the updated list of present WV state education policies, including WV tobacco policy.

CDC’s Tips: Tobacco Information and Prevention Sources

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/osh.htm

This site has several links for Teens and Kids. It also has important research data and report links. This is also a good site to link up to sources for supplemental information as well as getting information on different CDC publications.

Surgeon General’s Report for Kids (SGR 4 KIDS) - Table of contents

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr4kids/sgrmenu.htm

This site is a “kid friendly” information filled site. It would be a good site to bring to the attention of the kids participating in the N-O-T program.

Action on Smoking and Health

http://ash.org

This site is an informativ