NEWSLETTER HealthWorks 2015 Fall_Winter

HealthWorks ONE
Newsletter
Advisory Council
Patricia Sears, Chair
Barbara Morrow, Vice Chair
Mary Butler, Secretary
Trisha Ingalls
Upcoming Events:
Community Commons
Gateway Center 6:00 PM
January 20th
February 17th
March 16th
March 5th
Smoke-Free Places Forum
Sponsor - HealthWorks
Gateway Center, Newport
April
Michael Nerney on
Teen Brain Development,
North Country Union
Junior High School
FIND US ON FACEBOOK
Northern Vermont
Parents
for Change
Lesley Becker, Editor
802-334-2725
Volume 5, Issue 3
Fall/Winter 2015
High Schools Host
The Improbable Players
“This really happens”, “hit close to home”
and “real and relatable” are comments that
reflect high school student responses to the
Improbable Players’ shows, Running on E and
End of the Line.
Running on E, was a story about four friends,
divided by their opinions about drinking and
drug use and facing hard questions about
alcohol and drugs: Aren’t I supposed to have fun
when I’m young? How much should friends help each
other?
End of the Line is four stories about how
young people get hooked on opiates and
shows that there’s hope to get clean again,
and how to get back into life.
The Boston-based group brought their popular skits to NCUHS and Lake Region High
Schools this fall. Following performances
the actors worked with youth to develop
skits, and students kept working on a skit
about peer pressure and alcohol.
This fall, students
rehearsed with
HealthWorks coordinator Lesley
Becker and got
some acting tips
from actor and
local celebrity,
At the Troy School, Rusty talked
Rusty DeWees.
to students about bullying.
In October and November, the students
performed for middle school students at
Troy and Lowell Schools in a program that
included their skit and Rusty’s talk promoting positive lifestyle choices for high school
students. Lowell students made a presentation about the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
The HealthWorks/NEKLS Coalition and
Orleans County Restorative Justice Center
sponsored these performances and youth
theater workshops.
photos by Lesley Becker
Actors from the Improbable Players theatre group talking
with students in a question and answer session after a
performance of “Running on Empty” at NCUHS.
Rusty DeWees and NC student actors and HealthWorks coordinator Lesley Becker took questions from 5th
to 8th graders at the Lowell School. photo by M. Tarryk
Journey to Recovery Community Center
Opens in Newport
After many months of work and planning,
the Recovery Center opened in Newport,
staffed by executive director Brandon
Malshuk and operations manager Christi
Mason.
The Center offers Recovery Coaching, Recovery Meetings twice a week and Making
Recovery Easier workshops that run continously and can be started at any time.
Please call 624-4156. Volunteers welcomed.
On Facebook.com/J2RCC
The Center is
accepting donations
of furniture.
Journey to Recovery
Community Center
58 Third Street, Newport
Newport, Vermont
photo courtesy of JTRCC
Using Local Control to Prevent Underage Drinking
by Lesley Becker, HealthWorks Prevention Coordinator
There is so much advertising all around, all the time, and the
techniques of marketing are so highly developed, that most of
us don’t notice when children are exposed to ads that effectively influence them to drink alcohol. The drinking behaviors
of young people are influenced by seeing alcohol advertising,
according to new research published in April 2015 in the
Journal of Adolescent Health. Researchers noticed several
ways that youth are influenced by ads, and identified several categories of youth drinkers. A few of those categories
were: “Brand Ambassadors” who chose a brand because they
identified with the images shown in ads; “Tasters” who select
a brand because they expect it to taste good; and “Copycats”
who chose the kind of alcohol they drink because they’ve
seen an adult drinking it, or seen it used by actors in movies
or other media.
“These findings indicate that youth are in fact consuming the
same alcohol brands that they are most heavily exposed to via
advertising” states David Jernigan, CAMY director and associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Dept. of Health,
Behavior and Society. Jernigan also co-authored a study
published in the October 2015 American Journal of Drug and
Alcohol Abuse showing a link between how much a brand of
alcohol is advertised and how likely youth 13 to 20 are to try
that brand.
In the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, there is reason to be
concerned about rates of underage drinking. Nationally, alcohol is the drug that is most commonly used by adolescents
and is responsible for 4,300 deaths of people under 18 each
year. In the Newport area, rates of alcohol use by high school
students are 42% for drinking in the past 30 days compared to
the average of 33% in Vermont overall, according to the 2013
Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Nationally, studies show stronger state and community policies addressing alcohol use can lower the rates of underage
drinking. Research by Gray and Carr suggest “…efforts to
reduce youth drinking should incorporate population-based
policies…” published in Pediatrics in June 2015.
Some communities use their local regulatory and land use
powers to limit youth exposure to alcohol advertising, and
improve aesthetics. Brattleboro and St. Johnsbury have regulations limiting the amount of advertising in store windows or
glass doors. A 2015 U.S. Supreme Court case, Reed v. Town of
Gilbert, established a town’s ability to regulate signage, as long
as the ordinance is content-neutral.
Community policies can have a big impact in reducing underage alcohol use and the serious consequences related to
alcohol. These policies promote public health and safety, and
can maintain a change in social norms, in relation to alcohol
use, and lower rates of underage drinking.
Marijuana Legalization
Forum
Lyndon State College Hosts
Community Discussion
by Dana Mitchell
The marijuana debate at
LSC on October 22nd was sponsored by the Community
Restorative Justice Center, NVRH, VDH, and LSC. The
point of this debate was to gain knowledge, inform your
opinion, and have an unbiased opinion of the subject at
hand for the time being.
The debate was set up like a circle, with the people who
wanted to talk sitting in the inner circle. Representatives
from local agencies spoke in the beginning of the debate,
but students soon wanted to give their opinions as well.
The debate proved a lot of good points between legalization and criminalization.
Rose Sheehan was one of the main speakers, she has
worked as a licensed drug counselor. She said marketing
almost always is towards younger generations and there’s no
way to avoid that. Debbie Haskins (personally my favorite
of all of the people debating) pointed out marijuana is a
powerful drug of sorts, that if we do legalize this, it impacts Vermont significantly. We need to wait to see what
other states have to report. She points out, why is legalization the answer? There are other things we could do, and
it is already decriminalized. Alcohol is legal, why don’t we
create more tax revenue on that? We need more data. Treatment is so much more expensive than prevention, what do
we do if people become emotionally addicted?
Other speakers mentioned the evidence of stunted brain
development and about how it is actually dangerous for the
human brain. Someone talked about Vermont House bill
H277 that proposes legalizing marijuana and describes how
it can boost the economy.
The most surprising thing was fellow LSC students asking
questions and giving informative inputs. The students mentioned that it’s not physically addictive, it can be more regulated if its legalized, and that alcohol has a worse reputation
than marijuana does. My favorite part about this debate was
the ending. The last speaker was a 30+ year pot smoker.
He talked about how he would get high and drive just fine,
and how his job never suffered. He also talked about one
day his wife looked at him and asked for a divorce. He said
marijuana use makes you less motivated, and you lose track
of what you are doing. His last words were “... don’t blow
your brains out.”
Dana Mitchell is a student and Resident Advisor at Lyndon State College.
She graduated from North Country Union High School in June 2015.
photo courtesy of Dana Mitchell
Beyond Smoke-free Events
It isn’t a
Halloween trick!
by Nancy Rae, HealthWorks Tobacco Specialist
Many communities around our state have increased the
number of smoke-free places to include not only indoor
public spaces but outdoor areas.
Barre, Burlington, Enosburg Falls, Montpelier, St.
Albans, Vergennes and Montpelier are just a few of the
towns that have passed ordinances that have made their
outdoor recreational areas smoke-free.
Creating outdoor smoke-free areas keeps them beautiful
and free from pollution. It protects children and animals
from ingesting toxic cigarette butts. It allows everyone
to be protected from secondhand smoke exposure.
This protection is especially important to our most
vulnerable residents; children, pregnant women, and
people with respiratory and cardiac conditions. In
smoke-free areas we are providing children with positive, healthy role models.
Over the past 12 months, the HealthWorks ONE
coalition/NorthEast Kingdom Learning Services has
worked with various community groups to make some
of our local outdoor events smoke-free. The Winter
Festival, the Block Party, Aquafest, Hike, Bike and Paddle and Newport’s Monster Bash have all been designated “smoke-free” events.
Perhaps it’s time for our communities to look at more
permanent strategies to make all of our outdoor areas
safe, clean, comfortable and healthy for the huge majority (over 80%) of people who are non-smokers.
Update from Northeast Kingdom AFSP
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
by Mary Butler
International Survivors of Suicide Day (ISOS),
November 21st, was a gathering of people who have
lost loved ones to suicide. These ISOS days are held
around the country to help the survivors create networks and view a video on coping, grieving and getting
on with life.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
provides the venue and local volunteers make it happen.
The 2015 day in Newport, was coordinated by Lillian
Bathalon at the Faith Lighthouse Church. The participants expressed their appreciation of the excellent
video and the time to share their experiences. A little
bit more healing!
HealthWorks Tobacco
Specialist Nancy Rae
and community activist
Pam Ladds were
right in style on Halloween in Newport;
bewitching as they
display a smoke-free sign
Main Street.
photo by
Lisa Daigle-Farney
Rural Edge Properties Going Smoke-free
by Nancy Rae, HealthWorks Tobacco Specialist
All properties owned and managed by RuralEdge, a rural
regional housing non-profit organization, will be “smokefree” indoors and on campus in 2016.
This change has been made after over two years of careful
consideration and planning. A gradual roll-out of the new
policy has been underway for months.
Going “smoke-free” has many benefits for the residents.
It will eliminate exposure to the health risks
associated with secondhand smoke; reduce litter from
smoking materials and greatly reduce the risk of fires and
lower insurance rates. Facilities will be cleaner, which lowers the turn-around costs when apartments are vacated.
This new policy doesn’t mean residents cannot smoke, it
just specifies areas where smoking is prohibited. However,
it does emphasize RuralEdge’s commitment to the health
and safety of all residents.
SMOKE-FREE PLACES PUBLIC FORUM
On March 5, 2016, HealthWorks ONE Community Coalition will host a public forum to discuss “Smoke-Free
Places”. The forum will have a keynote speaker, educational presentations, a balanced panel discussion, and
break-out sessions to provide opportunities for everyone
to share their perspective. Please join us for this important
discussion. Contact Paul Dreher at 802-334-2725 for more
information.
TEEN HOTLINE
1-800-639-6095
Call Anytime, anyday.
BEFORE
Thank you,
Newport!
This store is around
the corner from
Newport City Elementary School, and
children walk by
every day on their
way to school. Today they see holiday
trees instead of
tobacco advertising!
HealthWorks Staff
Lesley Becker
Paul Dreher
Nancy Rae
802-334-2725
HealthWorks@neklsvt.org
AFTER
Photos by Nancy Rae
HealthWorks Coalition
Northeast Kingdom Learning Services
55 Seymour Lane
Newport, Vermont 05855