Tobacco grant awarded

The Dare County Department of Public Health (DCDPH) was recently awarded a grant that will build upon the DCDPH’s work in tobacco prevention for the residents of Dare County. This grant was awarded by the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch of North Carolina Division of Public Health and is part of the Tobacco Reality Unfiltered (TRU) Sustainability Project.

With this funding, the DCDPH will make the opportunity to quit smoking more convenient by providing tobacco users with cessation opportunities in their community, worksites or on school campus. The DCDPH will implement a public education awareness campaign to educate the community on the health benefits of quitting, the dangers of secondhand smoke and the benefits of a tobacco free Dare County.

The TRU Initiative has already proven its success by advocating for over 100 restaurants to go smoke free. The merchant education component of the program has assisted in bringing our non-compliance rate of tobacco sales from 42 percent in 2004 to 21 percent in 2011. The TRU program is active in Dare County high schools, with tobacco prevention and education activities being taught by peers in the middle schools. Since The TRU campaign launch in 2003, North Carolina has 53,000 fewer teen cigarette smokers.

For more information on the TRU Initiative, please contact the Dare County Department of Public Health’s Health Education Specialist, Lisa Phillips at (252) 475-5077.