TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Electronic cigarettes often are advertised as a safer alternative to tobacco cigarettes, but there are a lot of questions about those claims. E-cigarettes provide users with nicotine through a liquid solution that also contains other chemicals and flavorings. Because they were invented only a decade ago and are not yet regulated, according to Thomas Glynn, director of cancer science and trends at the American Cancer Society, their safety is unknown.
"Because there are more than 250 e-cigarette companies making e-cigarettes right now, some of them do have contaminates in them, as the CDC has shown, and that's a concern," he warned.
Glynn said it's possible that e-cigarettes could be helpful aids for those trying to quit smoking the real thing, but he cautioned that more research and regulation are needed.
"Every time you light a cigarette, you're inhaling more than 7,000 chemicals; 60 of those are carcinogenic," he said. "With e-cigarettes, from what we know so far - and I emphasize that - they should be considerably less harmful."
The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a rule that would allow the agency to regulate e-cigarettes as it does tobacco products. According to Consumer Reports, sales of e-cigarettes totaled $1.5 billion in 2013, nearly triple the previous year.
A CDC survey found that from 2011 to 2012, e-cigarettes doubled in popularity among middle-school and high-school students, and Glynn said companies have devised ways to make them appealing to younger generations.
"Many of the companies are responsible. They have no flavors, or the only flavor they have is menthol. Others have flavors like bubble gum," he said. "So, that's a definite concern is: we do not want kids enticed into using these."
Currently Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
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Sudden cardiac arrest claims the lives of about 250 Michigan children and young adults each year. Legislation signed into law over the weekend aims to reduce that number. The new state law will require all public high school coaches to become CPR and AED certified.
Alexander Bowerson, now a freshman at the University of Michigan, is excited about it. During his senior year at Memphis High School, he says he would have died during wrestling practice had it not been for the quick thinking of a cheerleading coach who was also a nurse, and the defibrillator or AED that was available onsite.
"She knew exactly what to do," he said. "She realized it was cardiac right away, got an AED on me, took one shock and within 15 minutes after my first symptoms, was when I remember regaining full consciousness."
House Bills 5527 and 5528 will also require K-through-12 schools to establish a cardiac emergency response team, and do annual reviews of their emergency plan. The cost for CPR and AED certification is between $15 and $100 - and school districts will not be required to pay for the training.
Under the new law, the mandatory AED and CPR certifications must be obtained through the American Red Cross, American Heart Association, or an organization approved by the Michigan Department of Education. Bowerson said all it takes is a simple online search to see that there are a few kids in the Detroit area this year, who experienced cardiac emergencies.
"So now that it's required, I hope school boards take it seriously - and there's going to be a kid alive today, or whenever it happens, that wasn't going to be alive before, because of these bills," he said.
The new cardiac emergency response law goes into effect starting in the 2025-2026 school year.
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A new report reveals that investing in rural areas can improve essential resources for the people living there. Despite a significant rural population of 46 million in the United States, these regions receive only a minimal amount of grant funding. Back in 2012, the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust launched the Healthy Places North Carolina initiative and allocated $1-hundred million to 10 rural counties. The aim was to improve resource accessibility, and after a decade, their impact report reveals significant progress in areas such as healthy food, recreation and health-care resources.
Adam Linker, vice president for programs with the Reynolds trust, said the key to empowering these communities hinges on close collaboration with the residents themselves.
"The people who know the problems the best are the people who are closest to the issues in the community, and so you have to invest in those leaders, in those organizations so that they can lead the change efforts themselves," he said.
Linker emphasized the power of community-driven solutions for real, lasting change. The report echoes this sentiment, highlighting nearly 600 grants distributed to 61 local organizations across eastern and central North Carolina. Their efforts are making a difference, from setting up addiction recovery centers to improving health-care access.
One community reaping the benefits firsthand is West Marion in McDowell County. Linker pointed to the significance of the West Marion Community Forum, the sole Black-led nonprofit in the county. Historically underserved, Linker notes its pivotal role in creating initiatives such as free public transportation, establishing a thriving community garden and expanding access to vital resources.
"Their community, West Marion, that's predominantly African-American, was at one time they talked about the last that gets snow removal, and through their work of getting to know the city leaders, they're now the first to get snow removal. The city has started paying a lot of attention to what the community has to say," Linker said.
Kristen Burwell Naney, director of learning and impact with the Reynolds trust, believes the last decade has shown that it's not only important for funders to build up community organizations but to also change the way they think about success. She says this work requires a long-term strategy.
"So rather than expecting to see quick changes in population health outcomes, we found that you need to focus on things like detection of changes in networks, relationships, power and problem solving within a community, " she explained.
The report highlights key lessons for funders who want to shift conditions that produce inequality to drive change. Naney explained one important take-away to understand is that differences in organizations' abilities are often due to unequal access to financial and capacity building resources. The report suggests that funders have an opportunity to address these imbalances by offering more targeted support to groups that have historically been underfunded or excluded.
Disclosure: Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust contributes to our fund for reporting on Early Childhood Education, Health Issues, Livable Wages/Working Families, Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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Birth doulas assist new moms with the stress, uncertainty and anxiety of childbirth. Another type of doula offers similar support - to those who are dying. Death doulas, or end-of-life specialists, give spiritual and emotional support to people nearing death in a non-medical setting, and to their families after the transition. The word 'doula' comes from the Greek word doule', meaning 'female helper.'
Joy Kahn Harter, a mental health counselor for Anchored Passages in Bloomington, specializes in grief and loss. She encourages open dialogue about what is often an uneasy subject to discuss.
"It is truly educating, advocating and connecting people to either present or future resources that will serve them, and underscoring the choices that people do, in fact, have - that many people don't realize that they have," she said.
Harter added one request she has received is with planning an advance directive - instructions a person can leave behind about their funeral service or cremation, what to do with a pet, or help writing a loving message to family and friends. In 2021, there were about 1,000 per 100,000 residents, with the average mortality at age 76.
Death, or what is sometimes called 'the other side,' can produce feelings of fear, or a sense of denial - especially if a terminal illness has been diagnosed.
Abby Vincent, a death doula with Joy's House in Indianapolis, said some people really 'lean into' the conversation - and others shy away from it.
"And I think it takes somebody who is comfortable with the topic themselves; takes somebody who's a good listener - that is so much a part of it - and is able to hold compassion and space for some of those hard conversations that need to happen. Because there are some beautiful moments that happen during the dying process," she explained.
Training to become a death doula happens in workshops, with required reading and work-study assignments. Since it is not a federally recognized field, insurance companies don't cover these services. Vincent said she relies on word of mouth and invitations from churches and community groups hosting end-of-life meetings as educational opportunities about the death doula industry.
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