Tobacco Use

Many studies have suggested a connection between smoking and coronary heart disease.  A person’s risk of high blood pressure and a heart attack increases with the number of cigarettes he or she smokes and the length of the smoking behavior. 

Overall, the smoking rates in St. Mary’s County are about 21% for those surveyed; however, this number escalates to a staggering 50% in parts of the community, including the Lexington Park area.  Initiatives are underway to help lower the smoking rate, particularly for those residents who are low income and those who are uninsured or underinsured.  The St. Mary’s County Health Department is the lead agency for this initiative.

GOAL:  The goal of the Local Health Improvement Process is to provide smoking cessation resources and implement a smoking cessation social marketing campaign targeted to the lower income populations particularly in the Lexington Park area.

Outcome Objectives/Measures:
Objective 1:  Recruit and train facilitators for smoking cessation programs. 

Objective 2:  Offer a minimum of two smoking cessation classes and more resources for the lower-income population in Lexington Park each year, reaching at least 20 individuals, with 40% of participants completing the classes by June 2011.  Participants will be contacted three and six months after completion of the program to evaluate the effectiveness of the class and smoking cessation.  Measure outcomes using CDC guidelines.  The St. Mary’s County Cancer Coalition will report results to the LHIC at the quarterly meetings.

Objective 3:  Implement a smoking cessation social marketing campaign targeted to the low-income population by November 2011.