Tobacco Programs

Douglas County  Health Department’s Tobacco Programs

The Douglas County Health Department, as a part of the Illinois Tobacco-Free Communities Program, has several programs that focus on the major areas of the anti-tobacco campaign: prevention, cessation, environmental tobacco smoke, and working with at-risk communities. This is accomplished through a variety of programming.

A Social Norms Marketing Program was initiated in 2015 for Douglas County area high school student groups to compete in an online video contest promoting Tobacco-Free Living. The 4 competing videos will be judged by an impartial panel, unaffiliated with the Douglas County Health Department. Each on our panel brings a different perspective. The panel will be a blend of esteemed professionals specializing in law enforcement, health care, art, and public media. The deadline for students to submit their video for competition is Monday, February 15, 2016 by 4pm. The winning school will win $2000 with the remaining schools winning prizes of $1000 or $500, depending on the placement they’re awarded. You will be able to view the winning video on You-Tube March of 2016. More details will be provided as we roll into 2016.
Good luck to Tuscola High School, Arcola High School, ALAH High School, and Villa Grove High School.

Contest update:  The winner of our Teens Living Tobacco-Free was Villa Grove High School.  Their winning video, as well as the other contest videos submitted, can be viewed anytime in the video tab of our Facebook page.  Congratulations to all our participants!  You’re all  #tobaccofree winners.

In both 2016 & 2017, Douglas County teens were asked to participate with us in #kickbutts day.

Pictures of our participants from the 2017 efforts “Taking Down Tobacco” trainings, #kickbutts events and signing their school banners to #BeTheFirst are all available via our social media pages. Please visit our links to Facebook & Twitter located at the bottom of our webpage!

https://www.facebook.com/dchealthdept.org/videos/1116261855084655/

 

Individuals who wish to quit smoking may contact the American Lung Association’s Quitline for cessation counseling and Nicotine Replacement products.Cessation programs are also available. Please visit Freedom From Smoking Program page.

First-hand Smoke – What is first-hand smoke?

First-hand smoke is what you might think it would be: smoke that affects the smoker. This is the “smoke” (including the carcinogens, nicotine, and additives) that the smoker inhales and infiltrates his or her body.

Second-hand Smoke – What is second-hand smoke and why is it important?

Second-hand smoke, recently termed “environmental tobacco smoke,” is the “smoke” exposure that smokers and non-smokers receive from the burning and consumption of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. The second-hand “smoke” consists not only of the nuisance portion from the smoke itself, but also contains carcinogens (cancer causing agents), nicotine (drug), and carbon monoxide (poison). While the former is what most people complain about- for instance, the smell that lingers on their clothes after leaving a bar, it is the latter that is dangerous, even deadly.

• The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that second-hand smoke causes 3,000 lung cancer DEATHS among non-smokers each years.
• A recent study from the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that a non-smoker’s risk of heart disease increases by 25% with exposure to second-hand smoke.
• Non-smokers subjected to second-hand smoke are exposed to: nicotine, carbon monoxide and carcinogens (cancer causing agents.)
• Non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke exclusively at work have been found to have significantly higher level of nicotine metabolite in their blood than those with no work-place exposure.

Smoke Free Illinois

In Illinois, all indoor workplaces and public places, including bars/taverns, restaurants, private clubs, and casinos, are smoke-free. Smoking is prohibited within 15 feet of all entrances and exits, windows that open and ventilation intakes. Read more about Tobacco-Free Illinois.

What is in a cigarette?

While most of us would answer the Jeopardy question with: What is paper, tobacco, filter and, maybe, glue, the truth is far more complicated. Below is a partial list of cigarette ingredients. Click here to view a complete list of the 599 ingredients in a single cigarette.

Some ingredients in a cigarette:

Nicotine: aka a drug
Naphthalene: aka mothballs
Carbon Monoxide: aka car exhaust fumes
Acetone: aka nail polish remover
Formaldehyde: aka embalming fluid
Arsenic: aka rat poison
Polonium 210: aka nuclear waste material
Cyanide: aka poison
Ammonia: aka household cleaner
Toluene: aka industrial solvent
Butane: aka lighter fluid

For more information on tobacco and the dangers of nicotine, please contact our staff’s Tobacco Prevention Lead: Summer Phillips or visit one of the resources below:

• • American Lung Association Factsheet on Second-Hand Smoke: www.lungusa.org
  • Cost of Smoking Calculator: www.idph.state.il.us/TobaccoWebSite/home.htm
  • IDPH Quitline: www.idph.state.il.us/TobaccoWebSite/quitsmoking.htm
  • #20Million Memorial: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/connected/twenty-million-memorial.html

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