Coatesville police and other city officials gathered to express support for ChesPenn Health Services and Coatesville Youth Initiative’s Young Lungs At Play, to get tobacco products away from parks and playgrounds. Pictured, front row, Gabrielle Thomson, age 11; Israel Thomson, age 8 ;Amina Thomson, age 10. Second row: Sergeant Rodger H. Ollis, Jr., City of Coatesville Police Department; Lula Defersha, Coatesville Youth Initiative; Mike Barnard MPH, ChesPenn Health Services: Chief Jack Laufer III, City of Coatesville PD. Back row: Lieutenant James Audette, City of Coatesville Police Department; officer Kirt Guye, City of Coatesville Police Department; Marie Lawson, Coatesville City Council ; Regina Horton Lewis, ChesPenn Health Services.
COATESVILLE — ChesPenn Health Services and Coatesville Youth Initiative (CYI) in Chester County and the City of Coatesville are partnering to introduce Young Lungs at Play!, an initiative to make public parks, playing fields and playgrounds tobacco-free. A kick-off event was held Saturday, April 27 at Ash Park during the YMCA Healthy Kids Day in the city.
The initiative assists municipalities in designating parks, playgrounds and recreation fields tobacco-free. ChesPenn and CYI provided the City of Coatesville with 28 weather resistant Young Lungs at Play! Signs—20 in English and 8 in Spanish—that will be posted in each of the eight Coatesville parks. In August, ChesPenn and CYI staff will approach the Coatesville Area School District to explore the feasibility of expanding the program to include school grounds.
“This is an important health initiative for our community, ” said Mike Barnard, ChesPenn Community Health Educator. “An estimated 50,000 Americans die each year from lung cancer and heart disease attributable to secondhand smoke exposure. Secondhand smoke exposure also causes an estimated one million illnesses in children each year.” There is also indisputable evidence that implementing 100% smoke-free environments is the only effective way to protect the population from the harmful effects of exposure to secondhand smoke. Children are at particular risk for asthma, respiratory infections and cardiovascular disease when exposed to tobacco smoke.
Outdoor tobacco use has an environmental impact as well. Cigarette butts are one of the most littered items in the world. Tobacco waste is costly to clean up and has potential to poison our waterways, animals and people. Tobacco use in public areas where children and adults are watching and engaging in outdoor recreation is detrimental to their health, pollutes the environment and increases maintenance costs.
Marie (Hess) Lawson, Vice President Coatesville City Council, Ward 2, expressed the Council’s support for the initiative.
“It was an honor to work on the Young Lungs at Play Initiative on behalf of the Coatesville City Council. The health and safety of our children as well as their families is always a priority. I am glad that the city is now able to provide healthy, clean environments for all families to enjoy.”
