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Health Promotion Flight, Youth Center to host event on being tobacco-free

  • Published
  • By Gregory Pavelka
  • 375th Medical Group Health Promotion Flight
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The Health Promotion office is teaming up with the Youth Center for Kick Butts Day March 16 to empower youth to stand out, speak up, and seize control against Big Tobacco.

The Kick Butts Day is a national day of activism for tobacco-free kids, spearheaded by UCanQuit2.org. More than 1,000 different events in schools and communities across the U.S are expected this year.

Last year there were 182 registered military events for Kick Butts Day, and the Scott AFB Health promotion team is excited to bring the campaign to the Youth Center this year.

Tobacco usage among middle and high school students continues to be an issue that needs to be addressed. The Center for Disease Control calculated that if the current rate of youth smokers continues, 5.6 million Americans will die early from a smoking-related illness.

To put that number in another perspective, one out of every 13 Americans, who are 17 years old and younger today, will eventually die early from a smoking related illness.

In 2014, middle and high school students used tobacco at the rate of 7.7 percent and 24.6 percent, respectively. Male students used tobacco more frequently than female students in all forms of tobacco, except for hookah. Electronic cigarettes have greatly increased in use among students of all ages.

In 2011, 1.5 percent of high school students and 0.6 percent of middle school students had used an electronic cigarette. Those numbers increased to 13.4 percent for high schoolers and 3.9 percent for middles schoolers, in only three years.

There is some good news though. Cigarette smoking has dropped considerably among students. Middle schoolers have dropped from 4.3 percent in 2011, to 2.5 percent in 2014. High schoolers saw an even greater decrease in cigarette usage. In 2011, 15.8 perccent of high schoolers smoked cigarettes, and that number has been reduced to 9.2 percent in 2014.

Health Promotion is available to meet Team Scott's tobacco cessation and outreach needs. They offer a free tobacco cessation class that meets the first and third Monday of every month and is available to present in any forum for both adults and youth to better educate on the dangers of tobacco use.

The Health Promotion team is available to help with any tobacco, fitness and nutrition needs and can be reached at 256-7139.