FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 1, 2009

Leslie Deck, 751-8107

 

High School Students Pledge to be Tobacco Free

KALISPELL , MT – In honor of World No Tobacco Day, Flathead and Glacier High School teens will take a stand against tobacco and pledge to be tobacco free.

The FHS/GHS STAND Club has organized demonstrations during all school lunches on June 2 nd at GHS and June 4 th at FHS in which high school students will sign a pledge to be tobacco free.

World No Tobacco Day, celebrated May 31, 2009, is a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative to raise awareness about tobacco use. The leading preventable cause of death, tobacco kills more than five million people every year. It is the only legal consumer product that kills when used exactly as intended by the manufacturer.

The theme of this year's World No Tobacco Day is “Tobacco Health Warnings,” with an emphasis on the picture warnings that have been shown to be particularly effective at making people aware of the health risks of tobacco use and convincing them to quit. More and more countries are fighting back against the epidemic of tobacco by requiring that packages of tobacco show the dangers of the product's use.

For further information about Flathead High School 's demonstration contact Leslie Deck at 751-8107 (day of event, 471-5131), or Kari Gabriel, 751-3971 (day of event 249-7800).

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  March 27, 2009

Leslie Deck, 751-8107

 

45 High School Students Play Dead on Kick Butts Day

KALISPELL, MT - Flathead and Glacier High School teens will take a stand against tobacco Monday, March 30, as part of Kick Butts Day. Kick Butts Day is a nationwide initiative in which teens take the lead in the effort to stop their peers from using tobacco.

“Kick Butts day is an annual celebration of youth advocacy, leadership and activism for health and against tobacco,” says Nikki Abbrescia, FHS Student and STAND Club member.

The FHS/GHS STAND Club has organized a demonstration in Kalispell in which 45 students at FHS will simultaneously show the impact of tobacco use through a display of “dead” bodies. At 3:10 pm, as school is being released, 45 students will lay “dead” in the FHS Commons area. Every hour, tobacco kills 45 people in the United States .

This activity is designed to raise awareness that tobacco will continue to be the No. 1 cause of preventable death in Montana and nationwide so long as youth are recruited into a lifetime of tobacco addiction by the tobacco industry.

“Of all the kids who are under 18 in Montana today, 18,000 of them will die early from smoking,” says Meghan Garner, FHS Student and STAND Club member. “Kick Butts Day is a great way for Montana teens to get involved in the fight against Big Tobacco.”

For further information about Flathead High School 's demonstration contact Leslie Deck at 751-8107 (day of event, 471-5131), or Kari Gabriel, 751-3971 (day of event 249-7800).

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:   OCTOBER 1, 2008

Leslie Deck

406-751-8107

 

October Marks 3 rd Anniversary of

Montana Clean Indoor Air Act

 

Montanans expect a smokefree state.  Montana communities are showing support for the clean indoor air law.  October 1 st marks the one-year countdown to a 100% smokefree Montana .

 

 

Kalispell , Mont. – With the third anniversary of the Montana Clean Indoor Air Act, Flathead County community, medical and organization leaders, as well as Montanans statewide, are showing their support for a smokefree Montana in writing.

 

“By adopting the Clean Indoor Air Act, the Montana legislature recognized the right of nonsmokers to breathe smokefree air and concluded that the need to breathe clean air takes priority over the desire to smoke,” says Leslie Deck , Tobacco Use Prevention Specialist with Flathead City-County Health Department. “The legislature chose to protect public health, supporting every Montanan's right to breathe smokefree air.”

 

The U.S. Surgeon General concluded in 2006 that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke and stated that the only way to protect public health is to eliminate exposure. Tobacco smoke carries at least 250 chemicals that are known to be toxic or carcinogenic, causing lung cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other fatal ailments. Commercial tobacco addiction is the number one cause of preventable death in the nation, killing 1,500 citizens every year in Montana alone.

 

“Across Montana , the right to breathe smokefree air is being recognized,” says Deck. In fact, more than 80 percent of Montanans support smokefree public places.

 

With full implementation of the Clean Indoor Air Act, Montana will be the 14 th state with a law requiring workplaces, restaurants, and b ars to be 100% smokefree, protecting the rights of all workers and patrons . Fourteen additional states have smokefree workplace laws that allow exceptions for restaurants or bars or both.

 

“Expect a smokefree Montana !” says Deck, “That's where this state is heading, and I can't wait!”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 18, 2008

 

Contact:    Leslie Deck

Flathead City-County Health Department

406-751-8107

ldeck@flathead.mt.gov

 

 

Flathead High School Student Zachary Dieziger
Selected for reACT Core Team

Teen Chosen for Statewide Youth Advisory Board Post

 

Kalispell , MT — Flathead High School Student Zachary Dieziger is chosen as a 2008-2009 member of the reACT Core Team, Montana 's youth-led anti-corporate tobacco movement's youth advisory board.

 

“We believe Zachary will be a valuable asset to the program this year as we strive to expose the deceptive ways corporate tobacco companies market their products to teens,” said reACT Program Coordinator Erin Kintop. Zachary was chosen among teens across the state for this position due to his passion for educating his peers about corporate tobacco's strategies, empowering other teens to take action and using creativity to express his message.

 

“As one of the sixteen students that were chosen from across the State to serve on the reACT Core Team, Zachary has an opportunity to represent the youth from the Flathead Valley at both the state and the national level,” said Leslie Deck , Tobacco-Free Flathead Program Coordinator. Zachary was chosen through a rigorous application process where students showcased their creativity and outlined their motivation for fighting corporate tobacco through the reACT program. As a member of the reACT Core Team, students attend three educational meetings, take part in bi-monthly conference calls and assist with planning and coordinating the 2009 reACT Teen Summit, which will be held in June.

 

“I'm so excited to be chosen for this position,” said Zachary. “I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work with my fellow youth leaders to encourage teens to take action and education Montanans about corporate tobacco's deceptive tactics.”

 

This year reACT groups across the state are focusing on exposing the deceptive ways corporate tobacco companies create new products that appeal to kids and market them aggressively to teens. In Montana alone, the tobacco industry spends an estimated $42 million each year to advertise and promote its products, including spit tobacco.

reACT is Montana 's youth-led movement dedicated to exposing and opposing the tobacco industry. Its mission is to spread the knowledge that teens are being targeted by corporate tobacco companies and encourage teens to take action against it. For more information on reACT visit www.reactmt.com .

 

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For immediate release:  April 30, 2008
Contact: Linda Lee, Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program,  

                  406-444-9617
                  Jon Ebelt, Public Information Officer, DPHHS

                  406-444-0936

TOBACCO WHISTLEBLOWER TO KEYNOTE CONFERENCE
Statewide Tobacco Use Prevention Gathering is May 7-8 in Bozeman

WHO: Jeffrey Wigand, PhD, an executive scientist whose dismissal from the nation’s third largest tobacco company and subsequent disclosure of tobacco industry executives’ systematic public deception and lies under oath to Congress became the basis for the award-winning movie, ‘The Insider’. Wigand’s address dubbed ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ will be Wednesday, May 7 from 9 -10:30 a.m.

Vincent DeMarco, national coordinator of Faith United Against Tobacco, a national campaign to mobilize faith communities to support proven solutions to reduce smoking, will present ‘Faith Leaders and Smokefree Air: A Match Made in Heaven’, Wednesday, May 7, 10:45 a.m. until noon.

René Hicks, nationally acclaimed comedian who lost part of her lung to cancer caused by secondhand smoke exposure in bars where she performed will present ‘Secondhand Smoke Is No Joke’, Wednesday, May 7 from 1-2 p.m.

WHAT: ‘From the Inside Out: Taking Smokefree Montana to Heart’, an annual statewide conference hosted by the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services

WHEN: Conference dates are Wednesday, May 7 and Thursday, May 8, 2008

WHERE: Hilton Garden Inn, 2023 Commerce Way, Bozeman, Mont.

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For Immediate Release: February 22, 2008

Contact: Leslie Deck, Health Promotion Specialis

                  Flathead City-County Health Department

                  (406) 751-8107

 

 

ORAL CANCER SURVIVOR TO WARN MONTANA STUDENTS OF THE REAL-LIFE CONSEQUENCES OF SPIT TOBACCO USE

•  Von Behrens took up chew at age 13

•  Now 30, he had 34 surgeries to combat oral cancer

•  Montana Tobacco Quit Line can help spit tobacco users beat addiction

KALISPELL , MONTANA – Oral cancer survivor, Gruen Von Behrens, 30, will visit Flathead County Thursday, February 28, 2008, to reach local students with his story of becoming addicted to spit tobacco as a teenager and surviving oral cancer.

Von Behrens began using spit tobacco on a camping trip at age 13. At age 17, he was diagnosed with oral cancer. Since his diagnosis, Von Behrens has undergone 34 painful and disfiguring surgeries to save his life. He has lost his lower teeth and jawbone and half his tongue and neck muscle. He also has had his face patched with skin and muscle from his leg.

"If I had known then what I know now, I never would have put a dip in my mouth,” Von Behrens says. Von Behrens shares his powerful story of perseverance and survival with young audiences in the hope that those who hear him will stay free of spit tobacco, and those who already use it will be encouraged to get help in quitting.

“Seeing Gruen and hearing his story, many children will respond by promising themselves never to touch any form of tobacco,” says Leslie Deck, Health Promotion Specialist. “His message is powerful and very hard to ignore.”

Von Behrens will provide hour-long presentations at Kalispell Middle School at 8:00 am, Columbia Falls High School at 10:15 am and Whitefish Middle School at 1:00 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2008.

The Von Behrens's event is sponsored by the Flathead City-County Health Department, Tobacco Free Flathead, Flathead CARE and the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program (MTUPP). He is touring parts of Montana this week in conjunction with MTUPP's month-long focus on reducing spit tobacco addiction.

The week before his tour, MTUPP is sponsoring “Through with Chew” week, a campaign designed to prevent and reduce spit tobacco addiction in Montana . Von Behrens is scheduled to tour schools around the state during the week of February 25 to 29.

Twenty-two percent of Montana senior high school males use spit tobacco. As a whole, Montana men are addicted to spit tobacco at more than twice the national rate. A recent survey of Montana high school students revealed that fewer than half believe spit tobacco users risk significant health damage, when in fact spit tobacco use poses severe health risks.

Deck said, “Spit tobacco causes oral, esophageal, and stomach cancer, as well as a number of tooth and gum diseases. Those addicted are 50 times more likely to develop oral cancer than non-users.”

Deck added that there is assistance for Montana spit tobacco users. The Montana Tobacco Quit Line, funded by the Montana Tobacco Use Prevention Program, helps spit tobacco users quit with free telephone coaching and nicotine replacement therapy, the patch, gum, or lozenges. Calls are toll-free at 1- 800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669).

Von Behrens is a member of the speaker's bureau of the National Spit Tobacco Education Program (NSTEP). He will stop at schools in Plentywood, Wolf Point, Malta, Havre, Sunburst, Shelby , Browning, Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls , Florence , Corvallis , and Darby on his five-day tour.

Gruen Von Behrens's complete itinerary is as follows:

 

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