Tag Archive for tobacco free madison

BMX Bike Show In Town This Saturday

September 22, 2011 Around Madison Comments Off

Tobacco Free Madison is hosting a BMX bike show called the Freestyle Connection at Lanier Field on Saturday, September 24, from 10 am – 1 pm. This group came to town a year ago and performed two standing room only shows for the community. They perform street tricks and some crazy ramp jumps that go over 20 feet in the air. They often get attendees involved in the action.

In addition to their entertaining bike show, the Freestyle Connection encourages youth to invest in their future by making good decisions today. Those decisions include choosing to be tobacco free and avoiding the impacts tobacco use can have on one’s life. Another decision they encourage youth to make is to wear their bicycling safety helmets. Healthy Start will be on hand providing a limited quantity of helmets, in various sizes to interested attendees.

The shows will be at Lanier Field, scheduled at 10 am and 12 noon.
The message that Tobacco Free Madison is trying to get out is that tobacco companies are manipulating the ingredients of many tobacco products to make them sweeter, more palatable with flavors like strawberry, grape, pina colada and chocolate chip cookie dough. They then package these products in brightly colored packages engineered to attract the attention of youth. Though legally not allowed to market towards youth, these marketing tactics appear to be aimed at none other. Big tobacco also alters the levels of some of the chemicals in these products to reduce the feeling of sickness that many get during their trial period starting a tobacco habit.

So if the products taste “better” are packaged more attractively and tend to not cause sickness, then youth are more likely to try them and initiate a tobacco habit that could last a lifetime, a lifetime that is statistically shorter than non-tobacco users.
We want to reduce youth initiation of tobacco use in Madison County and therefore reduce the impacts of tobacco use in Madison County.
Come out and join us on Saturday, September 24, at 10 am or 12 pm!

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30th Annual Down Home Days Celebration This Friday And Saturday, Sponsored By Tobacco Free Madison

April 12, 2011 Around Madison Comments Off

By Lynette Norris
Greene Publishing, Inc.
The Down Home Days Celebration that starts Thursday, April 14, and runs through Saturday, April 16, is bigger and better than ever this year.
The festival includes everything from golf tournaments to karaoke contests for the competitive soul, to two nights of rodeo performances for that little bit of cowboy in everybody around here, to dance performance and gospel music showcases, to a Family Fun Night with bounce houses, food booths, pinball and other games for the kids.
This year, Down Home Days is being sponsored by Tobacco Free Madison, said Tobacco Prevention Specialist Douglas Freer with the Madison County Health Department, who hopes to promote a tobacco-free lifestyle for Madison residents.  SWAT (Students Working Against Tobacco), an organization that teaches teenagers how to organize, speak up and get their message out to the public, will have about ten young people from Madison County and eight more from Levy County, promoting awareness of Big Tobacco’s marketing ploys aimed at snaring young people into a statistically shortened lifetime of addiction.
The marketing tactics both parents and kids should know about include: manipulating ingredients to make cigarettes more palatable, even adding flavors, such as strawberry, grape, pina colada and chocolate chip cookie dough; changing the levels of some chemicals so that the potential new user doesn’t feel as sick the first few times he or she lights up; and finally, using brightly colored, attractive packaging to grab the attention of the younger set.
These altered tobacco products have already been around for the last few years, and are currently in Madison stores.  Although it is illegal for tobacco companies to market their products directly toward kids, they get around it by claiming that these products are for adult use.
However, “You won’t see grown men going into these stores asking for grape-flavored cigarettes,” said Freer.
Tobacco Free Madison is sponsoring the event to take advantage of an opportunity to get their message out to a large number of youth and parents.  SWAT will have an information booth set up just inside the gate at the rodeo event, and individual SWAT members will be circulating through the crowds with petitions to restrict the sale of candy- and other sweet-flavored tobacco products in Madison County.
“We want to reduce youth initiation of tobacco use in Madison County and therefore reduce the impacts of tobacco use in Madison County,” said Freer.
Down Home Days also gives Tobacco Free Madison a chance to promote the free help that is available for anyone who wants to quit and needs help doing it.  Resources include:  the Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW (822-6669), and the Area Heath Education Center’s Quit Smoking Now program, with quit-smoking classes at the Madison County Health Department on Monday evenings at 5:30 p.m.  To register for these classes, please contact Preston Matthews at (850) 728-5479.
The schedule of events for Down Home Days include:  Thursday – Dessert Bake Off Judging, Bali’s Base Street Florist, 321 SW Pinckney Street, entries due by 5 p.m., for more info call Bali Thigpen, 973-2525;  the Pet Contest, Four Freedoms Gazebo, at 6 p.m. (Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.) For more info call Christy Killingsworth, 973-6936; and the Madison County High School Band Concert, at the MCHS Gym, at 7 p.m.
Friday – Begining at 5:30 p.m. Family Fun Night, Downtown, bounce houses, pin ball, food and more; at 6 p.m., the Citizen of the Year and Grandparent of the Year will be announced, followed by Becky’s Dance Steps Studio Showcase Perfomance; the Karaoke Contest will be held at the Gazebo, from 7 to 10 p.m., $20 entry fee. For more info call 973-2788.
Also being held on Friday at Lanier Field: PCA Rodeo; gates open at 5 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.  6:30 to 7:30 p.m. features country and gospel music performances.
Saturday, all day: Classic Car Show, Bounce Houses, Dunk Tank and more.  7:30 a.m. Colin P. Kelly Fitness Runs. 1 Mile Fun Run/Walk, children up to 16, $6 fee registration 7:30 a.m., run at 8 a.m;  5K Run/Walk, all ages, $15 fee registration 8 a.m., run at 8:30 a.m;  9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Down Home Days Book Signings, Tracy Revels, T.H. Bear, booth on Range Avenue; 10 a.m., Down Home Days Parade.
Saturday at 11 a.m. – Marine Corps Band, Gazebo; Quilt and Flower Show, Wardlaw-Smith-Goza Mansion; Dessert Bake Off Tasting, Bali’s Base Street Florist, Firefighter’s Challenge, Range Avenue; 11:30 a.m., Watermelon seed spitting contest, Four Freedoms Park, more info, call Browning & Sons, 973-6896;  Noon – 3 p.m. Karaoke Contest, Gazebo; 1:30 p.m., Frog Hopping Contest, East Courthouse Lawn, hosted by Tim Sanders and Dr. John Lewis;  3 p.m. Karaoke Finals, Gazebo, $100 first prize, $50 second prize and $25 third prize.  5 p.m. – 11 p.m. PCA Rodeo, Lanier Field. Gates open at 5 p.m. Show starts at 8 p.m.  6:30 to 7;30 p.m. features country and gospel music performances.

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Tobacco Free Madison Sponsors Down Home Days

April 12, 2011 Health Comments Off

Tobacco Free Madison  is sponsoring Down Home Days to promote tobacco-free lifestyles for Madison residents.  Students Working Against Tobacco, SWAT, youth will be on hand to promote awareness of the issue of candy flavored tobacco.  SWAT is a youth empowerment organization that teaches students planning and organizational skills as well as how to speak up and advocate a message.  Tobacco prevention is the message.  When students find out about the industry of Big Tobacco and how it has lied and manipulated society all in the name of Big Profits, they tend to call fowl.  They ask, “If tobacco kills more people than most of the other causes combined then why is it even legal?”
The message that the program is promoting is that tobacco companies are manipulating the ingredients of many products to make them sweeter, more palatable with flavors like strawberry, grape, pina colada and chocolate chip cookie dough.  They then package these products in brightly colored packages engineered to attract the attention of youth.  Though legally not allowed to market towards youth, these marketing tactics appear to be aimed at none other.  Big tobacco also alters the levels of some of the chemicals in these products to reduce the feeling of sickness that many get during their trial period starting a tobacco habit.  So if the products taste “better,” are packaged more attractively and tend to not cause sickness, then youth are more likely to try them and initiate a tobacco habit that could last a lifetime, a lifetime that is statistically shorter than non-tobacco users.  So that is why the tobacco program is sponsoring this event, to take advantage of an opportunity to get this message out to youth and parents.  We want to reduce youth initiation of tobacco use in Madison County and therefore reduce the impacts of tobacco use in Madison County.
Sponsoring Down Home Days also gives Tobacco Free Madison the opportunity to promote free help that is available to help anyone quit a tobacco habit.  Resources include the Quitline at 877 – U – CAN – NOW and Area Health Education Center’s Quit Smoking Now program which has classes at Madison County Health Department on Monday evenings at 5:30 pm.  To register for the classes please contact Preston Mathews at (850) 728 – 5479.

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FutureNow Expected To Electrify Madison County Youth

March 17, 2011 Front Page Comments Off

Imagine yourself standing before a smoke-filled stage with multicolored lights sweeping the room, heart-pounding live music pumping, all amidst a crowd dancing and singing to the music.  This is no rock concert—it’s a FutureNow school assembly.  “FutureNow is an organization out of Valdosta, Ga. that goes into middle and high schools to talk to teenagers about their choices and their future,” says FutureNow Director Chris Musgrove.  FutureNow draws young people into their message with live music, meaningful drama, video effects and real-life stories combined in a one-hour presentation.  The topics include telling students that their current choices will affect their education, careers, dreams and future.
Madison County Health Department’s Tobacco Program, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Safe Schools/Healthy Students program, known locally as Project Safe Zone, have partnered with Madison County Schools to provide this powerful program of daytime assemblies to middle and high school students on March 23.  Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosts FutureNow’s night event, open to the entire community at the Madison County High School Gym on Wednesday, March 23rd at 7 p.m.  Students will have the chance to win an iPod or Wild Adventures tickets in a drawing that evening.  Parents, church youth groups, and the community at large are invited to come and enjoy the evening event.
Always looking for new opportunities to deliver tobacco prevention and cessation activities that support the school district’s tobacco-free policies, Tobacco Prevention Specialist Dog Freer praised the FutureNow event as an exciting and timely venue that goes hand-in-hand with the health department’s tobacco-free lifestyle goals. The Students Working Against Tobacco members from Madison County Central School will be serving as volunteers for the event, continuing their active support of programs that promote healthy living throughout the district.
Similarly, Project Safe Zone Coordinator Octavious Tookes acknowledged the importance and power of promoting positive behavior, praising the FutureNow production for its focus and ability to connect to youth of all backgrounds. With his focus on enhancing school safety and providing a healthy learning environment that addresses issues such as bullying prevention and mentoring, Tookes further acknowledged his pleasure to support a program that complements the core themes of Project Safe Zone.
To find out how you can get involved with this event as a supporter or a volunteer, please contact Elton Dixon at 229.245.9499, or visit www.futurenow.us for more information.

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Through With Chew Week February 20 – 26, 2011

February 22, 2011 Health Comments Off

Tobacco Free Madison is encouraging our community partners to raise awareness of the dangers of smokeless tobacco, by participating in Through With Chew Week, February 20 – February 26. Through With Chew Week (TWCW) is an educational campaign to decrease spit tobacco use and increase awareness of the negative health effects of using these products.
All tobacco products contain nicotine, which is very addictive.  The most harmful carcinogens in spit and chewing tobacco are called tobacco-specific nitrosamines. These are formed during the growing, curing, fermenting and aging of American tobacco.
If you look at the types of spit, chew and snuff sold in retail outlets, you will notice different products for the beginner; they are easily identified by their sweet, fruity flavors (apple, cherry, peach, etc.) and often come in easy-to-use pouches.  Over time, the spit and snuff user graduates to products that contain more nicotine.  Someone who has chewed for a long time uses a stronger product and uses it more frequently to receive the same effect.
Even though smokeless tobacco use can lead to nicotine addiction and dependence, many youth are unaware of the dangerous consequences. Many believe that “smokeless” means harmless, but in fact, it contains 28 cancer causing agents that could lead to oral cancer.  Oral cancer is the sixth-leading cancer in males and one of the most difficult types of cancer to diagnose, treat and cure.
The Florida Youth Tobacco Survey indicates that Madison exceeds the state averages for youth smokeless tobacco use where 7.2 % of our middle school students report using smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days compared to the state average of three percent.  Madison County High School students report that 12.3 percent of them used smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days, greater than the state rate of 6.4 %. Efforts are being made to prevent initiation of tobacco use and to help those who have already developed a habit to quit.
Recently, Tobacco Free Florida launched a new website dedicated to smokeless tobacco, www.SmokelessKills.com.  It is designed to expose the dangers of smokeless tobacco with hard-hitting statistics and graphic images while leading users to free support that is available to help quitting.
Tobacco Free Madison and SWAT recognize that tobacco dependency is an addiction.  They assist by referring tobacco users to the most evidenced-based help that is available, the combination of counseling supported by nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) like patches and gum.
Be FREE today and contact the Florida Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW or floridaquitline.com for free counseling and NRT (for those that meet the medical screening requirements).  Individual and small group counseling is available at the Madison County Health Department Monday evenings at 5:30 pm.
Please contact Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) representative Preston  Mathews to register at (850) 728 – 5479.

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