NOTE: There are two seperate stories here…one is “Westbrook schools working to curb smoking” and the other is “Parents: Talk to Your Kids About Underage Drinking Now”-feel free to seperate them if it works better
From the School Department’s Coordinated Health program
Westbrook schools working to curb smoking
Governor John Baldacci announced in November that Maine’s youth smoking rates continue to decline. “In 1997 Maine had the tragic distinction of having one of the highest youth smoking rates in the nation,” said Baldacci. “In eight years Maine has completely turned those numbers around, with an overall drop in youth smoking of over 60%. As a result, thousands of our children will be spared the diseases and premature death associated with tobacco use.”
The governor congratulated Maine’s youth, schools, and public health community for their tremendous efforts in reducing high school smoking rates by 59% and middle school rates by 64%.
In Westbrook, through a comprehensive approach supported by tobacco settlement money that supports the Westbrook’s Coordinated School Health Program, there was a decline in tobacco use by Westbrook’s youth. In 1998, Westbrook teens smoked at a rate of 26% and by 2004, the rate had dropped to a little less than 18% – a decrease of 33% in teen smoking.
Maine is the top state in the nation in terms of the proportion of its share of the national tobacco settlement spent on tobacco prevention and control, allocating just over one-quarter of that money annually on tobacco-related programs. The Westbrook School Department, through a subcontract with PROP’s Community Promoting Health Program, is one of 31 Healthy Maine Partnerships using that tobacco settlement money to support health education curriculum and community health programs around the prevention of chronic diseases.
No one single strategy is responsible for the success in tobacco’s decline among youth. Multiple strategies have included effective community and school prevention efforts, educating the public through the media, creating smoke free public places, enforcing laws pertaining to tobacco sales to minors, and raising the price of tobacco.
“It’s been a real team approach here in the Westbrook Schools,” said Sandy Hale, school health coordinator. “Both our substance abuse counselors at the high school and junior high do an excellent job of counseling youth in the right direction. They also work with the health teachers to coordinate special tobacco prevention awareness days such as the Great American Smoke Out in November and Kick Butts Day, which takes place in April. The Westbrook Police Department is also part of the team, providing an officer in the elementary schools who provides safety and drug prevention education.”
For more information, visit www.mainepublichealth.gov or www.tobaccofreemaine.org or call the Maine Tobacco Helpline: 1-800-207-1230.
Parents: Talk to Your Kids About Underage Drinking Now
It’s not too early for parents with children in the 5th and 6th grade to discuss underage drinking. After all, your child may already have access to alcohol and may have been faced with making decisions for which he or she is not prepared. While it is true that most kids in late elementary grades do not drink alcohol, some 10 and 11 year olds have begun experimenting. In Maine, alcohol is the number one drug of use and abuse by our youth.
In addition, research shows that people who took their first drink before age 15 are four times more like to develop alcohol dependency than those who started after the age of 21.
Here are six actions you can take to help your child make wise decisions about the use of alcohol:
• Establish and maintain good communication with your child.
• Get involved and stay involved in your child’s life.
• Make clear rules and enforce them with consistency and appropriate consequences
• Be a positive role model.
• Teach your child to choose friends wisely.
• Monitor your child’s activities.
In spite of the “hype” put on the influence of peers in kids’ behavior, parents remain the number one influence in a child’s life and parents remain the most powerful and effective teachers in our children’s lives. So, let’s teach our children well and teach them the path to wellness now. For more information on what parents can do about talking to your kids about alcohol, check out this Web site: http://media.shs.net/prevline/pdfs/familyguide.pdf
For more information, contact: Sandy Hale, school health coordinator, at 854-0810, ext 561 or by e-mail at hales@westbrookschools.org.
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