Gone are the days of ashtrays and cigarettes in local restaurants and offices. Unfortunately, the fruity smell of nicotine vapors and smashed remains of electronic vaping devices in parking lots have become the alternative. Easy to conceal due to the pleasant smell and clever designs, a growing number of young adults and adolescents are becoming addicted to nicotine. The Northeast Prevention Resource Center is partnering with health care professionals and community members in Watertown, SD, to educate on the dangers of nicotine and promote resources to successfully overcome nicotine addiction.
NEW DATE: Tuesday, November 29, 2022 | 12:00 p.m. CT
Speaker: Kelli Rumpza, CPS, Watertown Community Prevention Specialist, Human Service Agency
Every day our youth experience different challenges and knowing there are products/companies that are intentionally intentionally influencing them for their profit, drives my passion. There are so many mixed messages out there and so many negative influences that we need to empower our community to protect the health and safety of our kids.
I started in the prevention field parallel to the Big Tobacco settlement, which I learned about the truths about Big Tobacco targeting the youth and other populations; how manipulative and deceitful they were. They didn’t care how harmful their products were, they were making money. I knew I needed to be an advocate. Now we are seeing the same deceit with vape products and we need to be adamant with our efforts.
I hope we achieve the goal of putting our youth and our community first. My role as a prevention specialist is to to provide the tools and resources that will help educate our community on the negative influences that affect our youth’s health and safety. This will then mobilize community partners to support and implement practices, policies and programs to prevent and reduce substance use – including vape products among youth.
I’m hoping my work has impacted our youth and community in a positive way, especially with our efforts being data-driven and evidence-based. To know that the work we do is meaningful and purposeful. I hope I’m seen as a trusted and reliable resource in our community. We are dealing with challenges right now in our community, and it does take time to see a shift towards change. You can’t always have that quick fix – you need someone to be that squeaky wheel (in a positive way), especially if you want it to be sustainable.
Best Practice Briefs are 20-minute micro-learning sessions to highlight successful system and policy change. The briefs are short, to the point, and real. Real people and real processes that really work! This series is brought to you by the South Dakota Foundation for Medical Care (SDFMC) in partnership with Great Plains Quality Innovation Network. For all Best Practice Brief Series sessions and the recordings, visit the SDFMC site.