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Action on Smoking and Health
A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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DE Announces New Smoking Cessation Program for Women [04/14-1]
Excerpts from: Senator Carper Joins American Legacy Foundation to Announce New Smoking Cessation Program in Delaware
Yahoo News [04/013/04]
U.S. Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE) and Dr. Cheryl Healton, President and CEO of
the American Legacy Foundation, today announced a grant award to the Delaware
Ecumenical Council for Children and Families (DECCF), a faith-based health
advocacy, education and services organization. The grant will fund an innovative
smoking cessation program that uses a faith-based curriculum to help women stop
smoking.
The goal of the DECCF program is to enable faith-based groups to become providers of community education on tobacco use and build upon the proven moral authority of the faith communities on matters related to health and wellness in addition to promoting anti-tobacco efforts in the state of Delaware.
Senator Carper and Dr. Healton were joined by Betsy Bennett, DECCF program coordinator, and several representatives of the tobacco control community to discuss the importance of tobacco control efforts in the state of Delaware. The $48,000 grant to DECCF is the first American Legacy Foundation grant awarded in Delaware through the Circle of Friends(TM): Uniting to be Smoke Free program, a national grassroots initiative that highlights the importance of social support in helping people quit, while also educating people about the toll of tobacco use on women in America.
Dr. Healton, praising Senator Carper for his leadership on tobacco control issues, reiterated his concern for the future survival of tobacco education and cessation programs.
"More than 60,000 women in Delaware smoke, and each year more than 178,000 women in the U.S. will lose their lives to tobacco-related diseases such as cancer, heart disease, emphysema and stroke," said Dr. Healton. "The Delaware Ecumenical Council for Children and Families program is an important first foray for our organization into working with faith communities to educate women about the dangers of tobacco use. But with our foundation's MSA funding running out, and many states using their MSA dollars to subsidize their general budgets, tobacco education and the health of our citizens will suffer unless more dollars and commitment are put into tobacco education and cessation programs.
The Delaware program marks the first time that the American Legacy Foundation, founded out of the Master Settlement Agreement between 46 state attorney generals, five U.S. territories, and the tobacco industry, has supported an approach to smoking cessation specially focused on using the power of faith to help women give up smoking.
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