Josh Brown | staff photographer HCC student Chase Taylor of Maggie Valley takes a smoking break.

HCC will not take part in statewide anti-smoking campaign

by PEGGY MANNING

Senior staff writer

School might decide to join effort later on

In response to increasing tobacco use among 18 to 24 year-olds, the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund is teaming up with more than 30 colleges and community colleges to promote North Carolina’s first-ever tobacco use cessation campaign aimed at this age group.

A primary focus of this new initiative will be the promotion of the new state-funded Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, which will provide young and adult North Carolina smokers the help they need to quit. “Our buildings have been smoke-free for a couple of years, but we have not adopted a tobacco-free policy that would ban tobacco use on our campus,” said Janice Gilliam, HCC vice president of student services. HCC is not among the community colleges that is working with the Health and Wellness Trust Fund to offer cessation programs, Gilliam said.

“There are no current cessation efforts, but that is certainly a possibility we could look into,” she said. One problem that has been discussed is the tendency for students to gather at building entrances to smoke. But, no solution has been identified, Gilliam said. The Health and Wellness Trust Fund’s college-aimed activities include:

• A mass e-mail campaign sent to drive college students to the new state Quitline, 1-800-Quit-NOW from a recognizable figure on each college campus — including an e-mail sent from Dr. William Roper, chief executive officer of the University of North Carolina Health Care System to students in the UNC system. More than 115,000 college students will receive this informational e-mail.

• Promotional materials to drive awareness and use of the Quitline. Items include magnets, chip clips, pens and banners, all branded with the phone number 1-800-Quit-NOW and the Web site www.QuitlineNC.com.

• Print ads in campus newspapers, featuring a college student holding a frozen turkey with the slogan “Quitting Cold Turkey Alone Can Be Difficult.”

• The nation’s first-ever formative research on how to optimally promote a Quitline to college-age young adults. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health will lead the effort and HWTF will use the results to shape future campaigns.

Peggy Manning can be reached at 452-0661, ext. 127, or at peggy@themountaineer.com.

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