Kick the Nic Archives - The Breathing Association

School’s Out for Summer

Schools have pretty much wrapped up this school year. Seniors have graduated and elementary students have had their field day. For some youth, summer is a great time to have a part-time job, vacation with their family, or simply enjoy the warm summer days. Some of our kids will find it a challenge to feed their nicotine addiction away from the school hallways and bathrooms. So, what are we as parents and caregivers supposed to do? Here are several tips that your child might be vaping.

Have they started becoming more secretive and closing their door more often? This is certainly normal adolescent behavior so each parent or caregiver will have to establish what is normal for their child. Maybe they are making a lot of excuses to use the restroom or go outdoors. Does their room have a sweet smell and are they using candles or room fresheners to disguise a smell? How about physically, is there a change in their sleeping, or have they developed a raspy cough or have lung infections? Maybe you will see a change in eating habits or having nausea. The last one, are they more irritable, have more mood swings, or are they anxious. This could be a sign that they are vaping.

I cannot leave us at just identifying if our child is vaping, I must share several next steps if you believe they may be vaping. First, talk to them. Come to this conversation with concern, not judgment. Listen more than you talk. Help them develop a plan as to how they can quit. You might want to include their physician in this conversation. For additional resources, check out Parents Against Vaping E-cigarettes. https://www.parentsagainstvaping.org/

admin2023-06-05T08:42:04-04:00June 5th, 2023|Bruce Barcelo|

World Tobacco Day is May 31st!

World No Tobacco Day is this month. On May 31^st, schools, healthcare professionals, and public health champions from around the world will join together to raise awareness about the devastating impact tobacco products have on our health and our environment. Typically, youth are not moved by numbers, but these may perk their ears up just a bit. Tobacco kills up to half of its users and more specifically, more than 8 million people each year. Over 7 million of those deaths are the result of using a tobacco product while 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

What does interest them are environmental concerns. Here is my “Bruce’s Best” for May. Talk about the environmental impact of tobacco.

Scarce available land and water are being used for tobacco cultivation with thousands of hectares of timber being destroyed for tobacco production.
766,571 metric tons of cigarette butts make their way into the environment every year.
If you put cigarette litter waste “butt to butt”, it would wrap around the earth 3 times!
Vapes create major plastics environmental waste, tech waste, and introduction of toxic chemicals into the environment.

Help our youth find their voice and become advocates for issues that will change the world.

admin2023-05-02T15:04:25-04:00May 2nd, 2023|Bruce Barcelo|

March is Women’s History Month: how has tobacco impacted women’s health?

March is Women’s History Month. We celebrate the countless women who have worked tirelessly and bravely for equality, and justice in our Nation. The theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”, which honors women in our past and present who have served as storytellers, family matriarchs, and community leaders and those who pass on history.

As we honor all women this month, it is also important to also consider how tobacco has impacted their health. Smoking is responsible for 80% of lung cancer deaths among women each year, and lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among women. Did you know that female smokers are nearly 22 times more likely to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, compared to women who never have smoked?

It is also important to remember that women and young girls have often been the target of Big Tobacco, with ads targeting them with themes associating various nicotine products with social desirability, independence, weight control, and having fun.

President Carter said in his proclamation declaring March 2-8 the first Women’s History Week, “Too often, the women were unsung, and sometimes their contributions went unnoticed”. “But the achievements, leadership, courage, strength, and love of the women who built America were as vital as that of the men whose names we know so well.” So during Women’s History Month, let us celebrate the women in our lives that not only tell our stories. Let us celebrate the women of the Breathing Association past, present and future who will share the important story of this historic and vital organization.

admin2023-03-09T08:28:41-05:00March 9th, 2023|Bruce Barcelo|

New Programs for 2023

We’re excited to share our four new programs for 2023: At Home For Seniors, Quit For Good, Elevating New Moms and Kick The Nic.

At Home for Seniors is a new program that improves the health of seniors with conditions like asthma, COPD and tobacco cessation. This program helps reduces barriers to care by bringing education, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up services directly to their homes. For more information on this program call 614-457-4570 or click here to learn more.

Quit For Good is a free workplace tobacco cessation program that encourages employees to quit smoking. This evidence-based program gets results by combining best practices, such as group education and counseling, with individual follow up to help employees quit for good. For more information on this program, click here to learn more.

Elevating New Moms is a is a groundbreaking new initiative that aims to increase infant vitality and improve the health of new moms through smoking cessation programming. Participants receive counseling and both mom and infant receive basic health screenings throughout the program. For more information on this program, click here to learn more.

Kick the Nic is an interactive program that engages Central Ohio students and educates them about the dangers of nicotine use and the importance of prevention by addressing the health effects of nicotine use, the topic of peer pressure and encouraging parents and caregivers to continue the messaging at home. For more information on this program, click here to learn more.

admin2023-03-28T14:24:02-04:00February 24th, 2023|Uncategorized|

How Does Ohio Measure Up?

We need to do annual check-ups with our family physicians, don’t we? They can tell us so many things. In the last several weeks, there have been two great annual tobacco “check-ups” that can certainly tell us a lot about the state of Ohio. Let’s take a look. The first is the “Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids: Broken Promises To Our Children”. This report highlights that Ohio ranks 31^st in its spending on tobacco prevention and cessation. This is only a little over 11% of what the CDC recommended spending amount is. The state of Ohio brings in $1.2 billion in tobacco revenue and the tobacco industry spends almost $430 million to market its product in Ohio. So, what is the real cost to our state? Residents’ state and federal tax burden from smoking-caused expenditures is $1,186 per household. Tobacco killed 20,200 Ohio citizens last year. This isn’t a very good check-up.

Let’s now turn to the American Lung Association “State of Tobacco Control Grade Card”. When I was a child, my teacher handed my grade card to me, and I then handed it to my parents. Here are Ohio’s grades: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Funding: F, Smokefree Air: A, Tobacco Taxes: F, Access to Cessation Services: C, Flavored Tobacco Products: F. That’s 3F’s, 1C, 1A. They gave Ohio an overall grade of F. The ALA’s Ohio annual healthcare cost due to smoking is $5,647,310,236. And the last number I will share is the high school tobacco use rate. It is 36.70%. That is staggering.

What do we do with a diagnosis like this? Our primary care physician would certainly voice their concern about the state of our condition. We must use our voice and share our concern about the condition of the health of Ohio. We need to let our local elected officials know our concerns and most importantly, let our state and federal elected officials know these outcomes are not acceptable. We have the right and responsibility to hold them accountable. Ohio’s health will not improve if we simply hope for better outcomes.

admin2023-03-28T15:18:18-04:00February 6th, 2023|Bruce Barcelo, Uncategorized|

Let’s Remember and Take the Next Step

An Article by Bruce Barcelo

It has been 54 years since the Surgeon General’s report, Smoking and Health, really had a major impact to change policy and how we as Americans would see tobacco. Did you know the government was so concerned that the news the Surgeon General Luther Terry was about to give, was so powerful and the smoking rates were so high in the U.S., they held the press conference to release the report on a Saturday morning? This began a major decline in tobacco use in the general population but, unfortunately, nicotine use and secondhand smoke exposure is still higher among some groups.

As awareness of nicotine-related disparities has grown, the need to address these needs has become more clear. Health equity in nicotine prevention and control is the ability for all people to live a healthy and nicotine-free life, regardless of their race, gender identity, level of education, the job they have, sexual orientation, if they have a disability or where they may live.

The Breathing Association is a community leader In addressing nicotine-related disparities. We provide best practice cessation to the populations that the tobacco industry targets with their deadly products. The Breathing Association also is a leading advocate for policies that promote health equity. It is always important to remember where we have been. Then always link arms and move forward. I heard a phrase several weeks ago that has stayed with me, “The day we plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit”.

#KickTheNic

admin2023-03-28T15:53:33-04:00November 4th, 2022|Bruce Barcelo, Uncategorized|

Better Breathing for Better Lives.

Nicotine Treatment Center of Ohio