HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

ECU one of 20 schools awarded inaugural national Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative grant

East Carolina University is one of 20 universities and colleges across the nation to receive an inaugural Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative Grant from the American Cancer Society and CVS Health Foundation.

The $20,000 grant is part of a nationwide $3.6 million, multi-year program intended to accelerate and expand the adoption and implementation of 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies.

“We’re proud to have the support of the American Cancer Society to build a healthier environment for our students,” said Dr. Joseph Lee, principal investigator of the new grant and assistant professor of health education and promotion in the College of Health and Human Performance.

Lee and Nadya Majette Elliott, co-chair of the University Wellness Committee, Dr. LaNika Wright, director of ECU Student Health Service, and Dr. Mark Bowling, chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at the ECU Brody School of Medicine announced the grant Nov. 14 at ECU’s Mendenhall Student Center.

Dr. Joseph Lee, principal investigator of the new grant and assistant professor of health education and promotion in the College of Health and Human Performance.

“Our focus is really on changing the culture on campus to one about promoting health and away from the use of addictive products,” Lee said. “Our main focus will be on education and supporting members of the campus community who want to quit.”

ECU’s current policy is no smoking within 25 feet of campus buildings on main campus. There is no smoking on the health sciences campus except in designated areas. The wellness committee is proposing an expansion of the no smoking zone to 100 feet of east campus buildings starting in the 2017 fall semester.

“This grant is helping ECU with the process of assessing and potentially implementing a policy,” Lee said.

The announcement coincides with the American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 17, which encourages smokers to quit for a day or make a plan to quit. Locally, ECU students will hold a cigarette butt pick up event on Thursday starting at 2:30 p.m. at ECU Student Health and culminating at 3:30 p.m. in front of Joyner Library’s Sonic Plaza.

“Our job at ECU is to train leaders who can help make our communities in eastern North Carolina healthier and wealthier,” Lee said.

In a health survey conducted last year, two-thirds of ECU students reported that a tobacco-free policy would improve their quality of life on campus. Eight percent of students surveyed said they were smokers, Lee said.

ECU senior Megan DeMarco is a member of the Student Government Association who also is working on undergraduate research with Lee. A resolution in support of the policy change from 25-feet to 100-feet is being proposed to the SGA today.

“Living longer lives starts here with us and pushing the campus as a whole,” DeMarco said. “As students, we have to take responsibility. This is student-led. Two-thirds of students want this.”

She said the proposed change is for the benefit of all students because many who smoke say they wish they had never started. “Even if you don’t smoke, if you can smell smoke, you’re being exposed to toxins,” DeMarco said.

Wright said that Student Health screens patients for tobacco use and are able to counsel and order referrals as needed. The student health insurance plan also covers nicotine replacement.

Some 12,000 people in North Carolina die each year because of smoking-related disease, Bowling said. Of 29 counties in eastern North Carolina, 20 have smoking rates that are greater than the national and state average, he said.

The Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative is part of “Be the First,” CVS Health’s five-year, $50 million initiative that supports education, advocacy, tobacco control and healthy behavior programming to help deliver the nation’s first tobacco-free generation.

“We’re at a critical moment in our nation’s efforts to end the epidemic of smoking and tobacco use, and expanding the number of tobacco-free college and university campuses is an important step in our efforts,” said Dr. Troyen A. Brennan, chief medical officer for CVS Health. “We’re confident our strategy will drive a significant decline in the number of new college-age smokers, and contribute to the progress being made where a tobacco-free generation in the U.S. seems possible.”

ECU is one of 20 universities and colleges across the nation to receive an inaugural Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative Grant from the American Cancer Society and CVS Health Foundation, which is part of a nationwide $3.6 million, multi-year program intended to accelerate and expand the adoption and implementation of 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free campus policies.