Smoke-Free Knoxville to hold recruitment event
Smoke-Free Knoxville is holding a membership recruitment event on Friday, June 6 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Knox County Health Department, located at 140 Dameron Ave.
Made up of community members and organizations, Smoke-Free Knoxville is a local coalition whose mission is to reduce death, disease, disability and financial impact related to the use of tobacco. The coalition is encouraging anyone interested in tobacco use prevention and cessation to attend the June 6 event.
Shawn Ralston, M.D., section chief of Inpatient Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth, will serve as the keynote speaker and will share her research and experience in tobacco use prevention and cessation. Dr. Ralston’s presence at the event is made possible by a grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The event is free and open to the public. Those interested in attending should register by contacting Kathryn Burklund at the health department at 865-215-5174 or Kathryn.burklund@knoxcounty.org.
Smoke-Free Knoxville will focus on three primary areas in 2014: eliminating smoking during pregnancy, reducing infant and child exposure to secondhand smoke, and preventing child and adolescent tobacco use. In 1994 the Knox County Health Department dedicated a full-time employee to tobacco use prevention. One of this employee’s duties is to serve as the facilitator and coordinator for the Smoke-Free Knoxville coalition.
Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S., yet about 43.8 million Americans smoke cigarettes - nearly 1 in every 5 adults. According to the report, more than 17 percent of Knox County adults were smoking cigarettes in 2011. In addition, approximately 18 percent of Knox County Schools high school students reported they smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, according to the report.
