Second Hand Smoke

Kiwanis Suffolk East Divisionn - Second Hand Smoke Project

Reviewing plans for the Distribution of the Second Hand Smoke Education Workbook is Walter Ladick, Jr., Chairman of the Suffolk East Division Education Initiative. Observing are (middle left) Lt Governor and Patchogue Past President, Frank Virno, Jr. and Glenn Hollins, Past Governor of New York District Kiwanis.

Plans are to distribute over 20,000 copies of the booklet to the Emergency Rooms in eight Eastern Long Island Hospitals and to nine Suffolk County Health Centers. When children appear in these institutions for treatment, they are victims of chronic respiratory and ear infections. The healthcare professionals lead by the Emergency Room Nurses will intervene with the caregiver and the child with the workbook and make the caregiver aware that Second Hand Smoke is likely the root of the problem.

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Studies have identified Second Hand Smoke as the cause of many chronic childhood illnesses and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. A recent government announcement has been made identifying Second Hand Smoke as a toxic substance. The Patchogue Kiwanis Foundation Health Promotion and Education Initiative is the fiduciary sponsor of the project. Clubs of the Suffolk East Division are participating in support of Glenn Hollins’ Child Safety Program.

All of us at the Suffolk East Division are thankful for the direction of Past Governor Glenn Hollins in this program and the tireless work of Past President Walter Ladick Jr. in this worthwhile initiative.

Suffolk County Department of Health Services is Honored by the National Association of County & City Health Officials for The Nurses’ Secondhand Smoke Initiative

Hauppauge, N.Y. – Suffolk County Department of Health Services was nationally recognized for an outstanding and innovative program to protect children from secondhand smoke. Children who inhale secondhand smoke suffer over 15,000 hospitalizations and 212 deaths every year. If a child is exposed to secondhand smoke it can trigger allergic or asthma attacks.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services, Brookhaven Memorial Hospital and the Suffolk East Division of Kiwanis were honored by the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) and awarded the Promising Practice certificate for their efforts.

“I am extremely proud of our Office of Health Education for recognizing a problem and having the foresight to come up with a practical solution,” said Dr. Humayun Chaudhry, Suffolk County Health Commissioner. “This program will change children’s lives for the better.”

Suffolk County’s Office of Health Education created an initiative to educate parents and caregivers about the dangers their children are exposed to from secondhand smoke. Suffolk County’s Patricia Bishop-Kelly wrote a book on the subject, Secondhand Smoke: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Your Child. The book is a tool for nurses to use as an intervention in hospitals after having a conversation with parents about secondhand smoke.

The nurses are leading the discussion and distributing the reading material so that it reaches their intended audience. A CD-Rom was created to train nurses in emergency room and clinical settings in ways to best approach this difficult topic. An intervention by a trusted health care provider often results in a positive response by a parent to change their smoking behavior.

“We decided to let the nurses do this as an intervention so each booklet will do its job because it will be presented to the parent of a sick child not simply as a handout,” said Walter Ladick, Chairman, Second Hand Smoke Education Committee.

What some parents and caregivers don’t know is that even if they don’t smoke in the car or in the house their clothes retain chemicals and smoke particles that can trigger allergic or asthma attacks in children. Children exposed to secondhand smoke on a daily basis have more than triple the risk of lung cancer as an adult. Secondhand smoke can also cause bronchitis, pneumonia and painful ear infections for children.

“We decided to get involved because we know that it would help children and give them the chance to live healthier lives,” said Glenn Hollin, Past New York Governor of Kiwanis. The Secondhand Smoke Initiative is expected to be implemented statewide and Kiwanis plans on expanding the program internationally.

Suffolk County Department of Health Services was nationally recognized for its Nurses’ Secondhand Smoke Education Initiative, a program to protect children from secondhand smoke. (l to r) Walter Ladick, Jr., Chairman, Second Hand Smoke Education Committee; Dr. Humayun Chaudhry, Suffolk County Health Commissioner; Patricia Bishop-Kelly, Health Program Analyst for the SCDHS Office of Health Education; Geri Reichenbach, Assistant Vice President Community Relations, Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center; Joseph Corace, Immed.Past Governor, Kiwanis New York; and Glenn Hollins, Past Governor, Kiwanis New York