Pima County Health Department

S.W.A.T. members presenting survey findings to an audience at the University of Arizona Mall.

The Pima County Health Department would like to congratulate the Tobacco Education and Prevention Program for their efforts to educate our community about the negative effects of tobacco use. The S.W.A.T. (Students Working Against Tobacco) team is a youth run coalition whose mission it is to promote healthy lifestyles by exposing tobacco industry misinformation through community service and advocacy.

The Tobacco Education Prevention Program and S.W.A.T. worked together at the 2009 Kick Butts Day. The collaborative effort began with “Operation Drive By,” a survey of Tucson drivers who smoke in their cars. The S.W.A.T. members stood for an hour at different street corners in Tucson and counted how many people they saw smoking in their car. They observed a total of 311 drivers who were smoking, 92 of the drivers had children in the car with them. Of the 311 people observed smoking, 32% had children with them.

Once the S.W.A.T. team had gathered their data, they needed a time and place to release their findings. This allowed for them to use Kick Butt Day 2009 for that very purpose. Kick Butt Day 2009 took place on March 25th. This is a yearly national campaign for youth around the United States to rally in their own defense against the tobacco industry. The Pima County Health Department’s Tobacco Education Prevention Program assisted S.W.A.T to secure a space at the University of Arizona Mall and set up a demonstration illustrating the results from their survey.

S.W.A.T.’s Kick Butt Day 2009 was quite a spectacle. More than 60 youth coalition members attended the rally on the University of Arizona Mall to highlight their survey findings regarding people who smoke in their cars. The event began at 4:30 p.m. which permitted students participating from different schools to go to one location for their demonstration. The Tobacco Education Prevention Program and S.W.A.T. team displayed 18 body bags filled with packaging peanuts and newspaper. The 18 body bags represent the number of people who die everyday from a tobacco related disease in Arizona. The members of the youth coalition also wanted to show 18 of their members falling together simultaneously while another team member gave statistics and began revealing their findings from “Operation Drive By”. The coalition also exhibited a smoker’s lung diseased by cancer along with jaw dropping statistics like 1,200 people in the United States die everyday of a tobacco related diseases. Kick Butt Day 2009 concluded with a “tobacco rapper” who wrote a special rap for the close of the rally.

Nicole Ybarra from the Pima County Health Department’s Tobacco Education and Prevention Program was inspired and says their momentum is building! She can’t wait for next year. The S.W.A.T. youth coalition definitely deserves applause and encouragement for they are the future. It’s wonderful to see our youth stepping up to help make our community a healthier and stronger place one step at a time!

 

 

 

 

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