NATIONAL TOBACCO COALITION

One in four people smoke in Indiana. This means Indiana has the fourth highest smoking rate in the United States. Kentucky, Nevada, and Missouri are the only states that have higher smoking rates. The impact of tobacco on Indiana is staggering, costing Hoosiers 10,300 lives each year. Source – Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation.

Clark County has staggering smoking statistics. While 21% of women in Indiana smoke during pregnancy, 24.6% of women reported smoking during pregnancy in Clark County. This is twice as high as the national average for women who reported smoking during pregnancy. Source – 2000 Indiana Birth Certificate Data, National Vital Statistics Report, “Smoking During Pregnancy in the 1990’s,” 2001.

Lung cancer rates in Clark County also exceed the state and national averages. The national average annual age-adjusted mortality rate for lung cancer deaths per 100,000 persons from 1995 – 1999 was 57.7%. Throughout the state of Indiana, that rate was 65.8%. Clark County had an average age-adjusted mortality rate for lung cancer deaths per 100,000 persons of 73.5%. The other counties in southern Indiana were all below the state rate, except for Scott County that had a rate of 78.4%. (Crawford – 51.1%; Floyd– 58.6%; Harrison – 53.5%; Orange – 46.8%; and Washington – 60.6%) Source – Indiana State Department of Health, Epidemiology Resource Center, Data Analysis Team.

In order to improve the health of our community, Clark County is working to change these rates. Clark County has formed the Clark County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition with a grant received from Indiana’s portion of the national tobacco settlement fund. Clark County has received $123,800 for each of the next two years to:

• Educate the public about the dangers of smoking;
• Assist tobacco users in cessation;
• Assist in the reduction and protection from secondhand smoke;
• Reduce youth initiation and access to tobacco; and
• Change the cultural perception and social acceptability of tobacco use in Clark County.

Clark Memorial Hospital serves as the grant’s administrator and has been instrumental in getting other community organizations throughout the county involved in the coalition. Due to these efforts, over 25 community organizations are involved in supporting prevention and cessation programs in Clark County. The tobacco prevention coalition is in the process of issuing funding to community organizations for these programs in order to reach all segments of the county’s population. In addition, the coalition is forming a youth arm to the coalition in which area middle school and high school aged youth will become involved with tobacco education, prevention, and advocacy.

The tobacco prevention coalition has recently published The Smoke-free Dining Guide, which publicizes restaurants in Clark, Floyd, Harrison, and Scott counties that do not allow smoking anywhere in their buildings. The coalition was closely involved in Red Ribbon Week celebrations (October 21 – 31) throughout the county and brought a nationally renowned anti-smoking speaker, Rick Stoddard, to the county to speak at two area high schools and at Clark Memorial Hospital. His wife died at the age of 46 from lung cancer due to smoking. Since her death, Mr. Stoddard spends much of his time traveling the country speaking to people, especially to youth, about the dangers of smoking and his personal experience with dealing with his wife’s lung cancer.

The coalition also will be promoting the Great American Smokeout on November 21, 2002 at Clark Memorial Hospital and other sites throughout the county. The goal is to encourage people to stop smoking for at least a day in hopes they will consider stopping for a lifetime. Also, information is being distributed throughout the county in various locations such as Clark Memorial Hospital, childcare centers, area schools, physician offices, and some local stores about the dangers of secondhand smoke. The material emphasizes the need for Clark County residents to seriously consider maintaining a smoke free home to reduce the dangers of ear infections, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, and any other smoking–related respiratory health concerns.

The Clark County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Coalition is dedicated to significantly improving the health of Clark County residents and reduce the disease and economic burden tobacco use places on Clark County residents of all ages. There is a great deal of room for improvement throughout Clark County in these areas. The coalition feels that through education, prevention, and providing a wide-range of cessation opportunities this vision for Clark County is possible.