Community Benefit Fall Report 2007 - (Page 11)

Community Benefit Report Teaching children about the hazards of tobacco use before they start smoking is especially effective in keeping them from forming the habit. Lancaster General instructors teach LifeSkills, a drug-prevention program that uses a researchbased curriculum and interactive teaching methods to address subjects such as peer pressure, tobacco use and addiction with school-age students. Now in its fifth year locally, our outcomes mirror national norms showing the program reduced tobacco use among adolescents by 87 percent and polydrug use by up to 66 percent. Last school year, Lancaster General taught the program to more than 6,100 students from schools throughout Lancaster County, including Columbia, Donegal, Eastern Lancaster, Hempfield, Solanco and Warwick school districts as well as Grandview Heights Academy, Lancaster Country Day, Manheim Christian, Our Lady of the Angels, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Sacred Heart, Saint Leo the Great, Mount Joy Career & Technology Center and Rohrerstown IU-13. Lancaster General also conducts an ongoing Freedom from Smoking (FFS) program that is open to anyone in the community who is trying to quit smoking. Since July 2006, more than 150 people have attended 10 public classes and four corporate classes. On average, about seven of 10 smokers quit smoking. Designed by the American Lung Association and taught by Lancaster General Wellness educators, FFS includes seven 90-minute sessions over six weeks. The goal is to help people understand and change behaviors that lead to smoking through a personalized plan that focuses on diet, exercise and other habits. take classroom lessons with them for life Shara Stetler, a seventhgrade teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Lancaster, is always gratified when she hears students apply knowledge from the classroom in their everyday conversations. That phenomenon happens often, she says, after the students attend LifeSkills, a three-month course taught by instructors from Lancaster General. “LifeSkills teaches skills that are relevant in many aspects of the students’ lives, and I see them referring back to what they’ve learned again and again,” Stetler says. This is the fifth year that Sacred Heart is offering the course, which uses interactive teaching methods to give middle-schoolers the knowledge they need to build healthy relationships and reject unhealthy habits such as smoking. “This program prepares our students for some of the more difficult challenges they may face as they get older,” she adds. “The Lancaster General instructors relate well to this age group, and as a result, our students are very receptive to what they have to say.” Middle-schoolers By Your Side on the web For additional information about our smoking-cessation program, please visit our Web site at www. LancasterGeneral.org or call (800) 341-2121. For a guide to smoke-free restaurants in Lancaster County, call the Tobacco Free Coalition of Lancaster at 544-3223. 11 http://www.lancastergeneral.org/content/WellnessClass_Lifeskills.htm http://www.elanco.k12.pa.us/ http://www.columbia.k12.pa.us/districtmain.htm http://www.donegal.k12.pa.us/donegal/site/default.asp http://www.solanco.k12.pa.us/ http://www.warwick.k12.pa.us/ http://www.hempfieldsd.org/hempfield/site/default.asp http://www.ghcapa.com/ http://www.lcds.pvt.k12.pa.us/home/index.asp http://www.lcds.pvt.k12.pa.us/home/index.asp http://www.ourladyoftheangels.org/ http://www.ourladyoftheangels.org/ http://www.omph.org/ http://www.sacredheartschoollancaster.com/ http://www.stleoschool.org/ http://www.lcctc.org/ http://www.sacredheartschoollancaster.com/ http://www.lcctc.org/ http://www.iu13.k12.pa.us/index.htm http://www.lancastergeneral.org/content/WellnessClass_Stop_Smoking_Program.htm http://www.lungusa.org/ http://www.LancasterGeneral.org http://www.lungusa.org/ http://www.LancasterGeneral.org

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Community Benefit Fall Report 2007

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