Kaysville Frontrunner Crash Responders to Be Honored

What:   The Utah Department of Health’s (UDOH) Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and Preparedness will celebrate emergency medical services with an awards ceremony.  During the ceremony, special recognition will be given to Emergency Medical Services personnel who responded to a crash  involving a UTA Frontrunner train and a passenger van.  Davis County Sheriff’s responders used a special, pre-hospital intubation program and the critically-injured victim survived.

Why:     To recognize and honor EMS personnel throughout Utah.

Who:     Governor Gary R. Herbert

               Dr. David Patton, Executive Director, Utah Department of Health

               Emergency Medical Services award honorees

When:   Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 10 a.m.

Where:   Utah State Capitol Rotunda

               350 North State Street

               Salt Lake City, Utah

Media Contact:

Tamara Goodin

Emergency Medical Services

Office: (801) 273-6672

Cell: (801) 230-2963

Utah Anti-tobacco Crusader is National Youth Advocate of Year

(SALT LAKE CITY) – The national Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids (CTFK) honored South Jordan Teen Gabe Glissmeyer as its national “Youth Advocate of the Year” at its 16th annual gala on May 17.

Glissmeyer, an LGBTQ youth, was honored for many achievements, including his creation of Out of the Smoke, a Utah Pride Center program dedicated to helping LGBTQ youth quit smoking. Glissmeyer, President of the Youth Leadership Board of Utah’s statewide youth tobacco-control program, One Good Reason, also played a major role in the “It’s All About the Packaging” initiative. The initiative surveyed more than 1,800 Utah teens on marketing tactics used by the tobacco industry to sell dissolvable tobacco products to youth.

“Gabe Glissmeyer and other young leaders from across the nation are making great strides in the fight against tobacco and their voices are being heard,” said Matthew L. Myers, President, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Young leaders like Gabe play a critical role in preventing kids from smoking and reducing tobacco’s terrible toll on our nation.”

Glissmeyer’s fight against tobacco began when his older sister picked up her first cigarette.

“Hollie turned to cigarettes at a young age and that addiction rapidly progressed into more experimentation until she chose heroin,” said Glissmeyer. “I saw how her life was falling apart and tearing apart the lives of people around her. That’s when I decided to fight back.”

In Utah, 8.5 percent of high school students smoke, and 1,500 children become daily smokers every year. Every year, tobacco use kills 1,200 Utah residents and costs the state $345 million in health care bills. 

For more information and resources visit www.TruthAgainstTobacco.com

Media Contact:

Andrea Kofoed

One Good Reason Adult Coordinator

(o) 801-538-7085 (m) 801-836-4066

Gabe Glissmeyer

Anti-tobacco Advocate

(801) 793-0410

Law Banning E-Cigarettes and Hookah in Public Places Now in Effect

(Salt Lake City) – House Bill 245, Definition of Smoking in the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act, passed during the 2012 Utah Legislative session went into effect May 8, 2012. The amendment changes the definition of smoking to include e-cigarettes and hookahs, and bans the use of these items in public places. The Utah Indoor Clean Air Act already prohibits smoking in all publicly-accessible, enclosed indoor facilities, whether publicly or privately owned. §26-38-3(1), §26-38-2(a)-(p).

The Bill allows limited exemptions for businesses that permit hookah use and e-cigarette sampling. “Businesses that apply for the exemption will be allowed time to transition into compliance with the new law,” said Steve Hadden, Health Program Specialist, Tobacco Prevention & Control Prevention, Utah Department of Health. Affected businesses have until July 1, 2012 to apply for the one-time, 5-year exemption.

Businesses that permit the use of hookah can qualify for the exemption by sending a letter of application and supporting documentation to the Utah Department of Health by July 1, 2012. To qualify for the exemption, businesses must meet all of the following criteria as of January 1, 2012:

• The business had and currently maintains a class C or D liquor license;

• The business has sold and currently sells a mixture of tobacco and other flavors for the purpose of heating, inhaling, and exhaling through a hookah pipe in the business’ public access areas;

• The business relied on the sale of mixed tobacco and other flavors for use in a hookah for at least 10% of its gross sales.

Hadden said, “Those businesses that are granted an exemption will be required to meet other criteria during their five-year exemption in order to maintain compliance. Local health departments will be completing regular compliance checks on those businesses.”

Tobacco use is the single greatest cause of preventable death in Utah, claiming more lives

than car crashes, murders, suicides, AIDS, alcohol use, drug abuse, and fires combined.  For free help quitting smoking, call the Utah Tobacco Quit Line at 1.800.QUIT.NOW,
or visit www.UtahQuitNet.com.

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Media Contact:

Steve Hadden, Health Program Specialist

Tobacco Prevention & Control Program

801-538-6260