Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine Essays

Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine Essays Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine Paper Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine Paper Approximately 438,000 people in the United States die each year due to the use of tobacco or exposure to the harmful chemicals that tobacco produces.   (Industry Update, 2008)   In Aroostook county Maine, educators joined with the Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine and launched is tobacco prevention program in schools. A united effort between the Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine, the Bureau of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services began.   The multilevel program assigns various areas of responsibility to school and district administrators and faculty. A coordinator is appointed and the necessary committees and teams are formed. The responsibilities are then defined and divvied out. Proper training is also provided.   The schools then begin collaborating with students, families, the community, community organizations, health care programs and providers to begin campaigning for a tobacco-free environment. The program addresses several areas of risk that tobacco use and second hand smoke exposes us to.   Some of those risks are a lower quality of life, a shortened life expectancy, an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.   Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke also increases our risk of developing serious illnesses such as cancer. The Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine was established in1997 with a portion of the funding coming from the doubled cigarette tax.   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed a tobacco control program with the goals of tobacco prevention, to motivate tobacco users to quit smoking, to prevent non-smokers from having to breathe second-hand smoke, and to identify and end unfair differences between smokers and non-smokers. It would take the cumulative efforts of community, businesses, schools, families, and kids to make it successful. The role of a health educator is multifaceted.   The program was implemented by training health educators to fulfill seven areas of responsibility. It’s their responsibility to assess the individual and community need for health education, to plan strategies for education and to deliver interventions and preventive programs.   It’s also the educator’s responsibility to work as liaison between the different organizations and strengthen the spirit of cooperation in order to reach a common goal. The health educator must act a resource person, accessing and gathering information from various sources.   The health educator is responsible for encouraging the need for change and inspiring others to be involved.  Ã‚   Planning, implementing and administering the overall program are also the duties of the health educator. So far the success of the Partnership for a Tobacco-free Maine has been made progress.   The number of students who have tried smoking and are committed smokers has declined since 2001. (Maine Youth Tobacco Survey, 2004)   Despite the progress, the numbers show that one in five students are smokers and that’s one smoker too many.   There’s still a great deal of work to be done. Communities: Holding the Key to Tobacco Prevention. (2008). Retrieved September 26, 2008, from Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine: tobaccofreemaine.org/channels/communities/#building Coordinating School Health Programs. (2000). Retrieved September 27, 2008, from Maine.gov: mainecshp.com/guidelines.html Healthy People 2010: Substance Abuse. (2000). Retrieved February 20, 2008, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.: healthypeople.gov/Document/HTML/Volume2/27Tobacco.htm#_Toc489766215 Industry Update. (2008). Retrieved September 26, 2008, from Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine: tobaccofreemaine.org/explore_facts/index.php Maine Youth Tobacco Survey. (2004). Retrieved September 27, 2008, from Healthy Maine Partnerships: tobaccofreemaine.org/PDFs/2004_MYTS-MYDAUS_Report_Final.pdf .