Effective 11/1/18, Douglas County’s Tobacco Prevention & Education Program (TPEP) will be carried out by Douglas Public Health Network. TPEP transitioned to Adapt in 2014 with the reorganization of public health in Douglas County. “We are grateful to have had an opportunity to sustain this work, and we look forward to working with Douglas Public Health Network to continue to reduce tobacco use and improve the health of our community,” said Greg Brigham, Ph.D., CEO of Adapt.
Tobacco use is still the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States—and takes an enormous toll on Douglas County in lives and dollars. Although Douglas County has seen reductions in tobacco use over the years, especially among youth, rates of tobacco-related chronic disease and death are consistently higher in Douglas County than statewide. The annual cost of tobacco to Douglas County is over $124 million in direct medical costs and lost productivity. “One of the biggest healthcare expenditures in Oregon is for chronic diseases such as emphysema, heart disease and cancer, and smoking is definitely related to all three,” said Robert Dannenhoffer, M.D., Administrator, Douglas Public Health Network.
Douglas County TPEP supports national best practices to establish smokefree policies and social norms, to help tobacco users to quit, and to prevent tobacco use by youth. Among the most recent statewide successes is Oregon’s law raising the required minimum age for a person to legally buy or obtain tobacco products, inhalant delivery systems, and tobacco devices, from 18 to 21. In Douglas County, TPEP has successfully worked with businesses and health systems to establish tobacco‐free policies. In January 2011, the City of Roseburg was one of the first cities in Oregon to establish a tobacco-free parks policy—an important step toward healthy, tobacco-free lifestyles for youth and adults. Work with Advantage Dental in 2014 led to the adoption of a tobacco-free policy that covered Advantage Dental Clinics throughout Oregon.
Visit SmokefreeOregon.com to learn what communities are doing throughout Oregon to create healthy, smokefree community environments and to help people quit.
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About Oregon’s Tobacco Prevention & Education Program
TPEP is part of Oregon’s Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention Program of the Oregon Health Authority. TPEP partners with local public health authorities, tribes and regional health equity coalitions to prevent and reduce tobacco-related deaths in every Oregon community. Most TPEP funding comes from state taxes on tobacco products. https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/PreventionWellness/TobaccoPrevention/Pages/index.aspx
About Adapt
Adapt has operated for nearly 50 years and provides comprehensive and fully-integrated addictions treatment, mental health care, primary care and prevention services to Douglas, Coos, Curry and Josephine counties. For more information, visit Adapt at www.adaptoregon.org.
About Douglas Public Health Network
The Douglas Public Health Network was established in 2015 as a 501©3 to engage the public, community organizations, and all levels of government to improve health and emergency preparedness of the people of Douglas county. DPHN operates as a consortium of for-profit business and non-profit organizations providing public health services under the public health authority of Douglas County. For more information, visit DPHN at http://douglaspublichealthnetwork.org/
Oregon’s Tobacco Facts https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/preventionwellness/tobaccoprevention/pages/oregon-tobacco-facts.aspx