Workshop focuses on vaping risks

WINSTED — A free public workshop, "Know the Risks. Know the Resources. Know Vape,” is scheduled for Feb. 28, 12-1 p.m. at the Draper Learning Center at Northwestern Connecticut Community College.

Yale School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Dana Cavallo, Ph.D., is the guest speaker. She has conducted numerous studies regarding tobacco products with an emphasis on vaping, and will share her experiences as a researcher and clinician working with adolescents and young adults.

“The focus will be on the potential health concerns, including nicotine addiction, flavor toxicity, and respiratory impairment from aerosol exposure,” Cavallo said in a statement. “There will be an opportunity to share ideas about this growing epidemic and develop ways to educate students on the truths about e-cigarettes to discourage initiation and encourage cessation efforts.”

Her discussion will also include the evolution of vaping and what is trending, with specifics around innovations with devices, the multitude of flavors, as well as a comparison of electronic devices and the traditional cigarette. Tobacco regulations and how they impact the vaping culture will also be explored.

The workshop is being presented by the NCCC Nursing and Allied Health Division and the Connecticut Office of Rural Health, whose offices are based at NCCC.

In December, the Connecticut Post reported that vaping use had spiked among teens, according to the National Institutes of Health, which reported that 37.3 percent of 12th-graders nationwide have taken part in some sort of vaping in the past 12 months, compared with 27.8 percent in 2017.

Statewide, according to the Connecticut Youth Tobacco Surveillance released by the state’s Department of Public Health, between 2011 and 2017, the percentage of high school students who had used e-cigarettes on one or more of the past 30 days increased from 2.4 percent to 14.7 percent. And between 2015 and 2017, the rate of current use more than doubled from 7.2 percent to 14.7 percent statewide.

The survey also showed that regular tobacco use is still at its lowest point in the survey, with only 3.6 percent of high school seniors smoking daily, compared with 22.4 percent 20 years ago.

The national statistics come from the 2018 Monitoring the Future survey, an ongoing study of substance use and abuse in American students. About 50,000 students in grades 8, 10 and 12 are surveyed each year. The results are collected by the National Institutes of Health.

Funding for the Feb. 28 presentation in Winsted is through a grant awarded by Southern Connecticut State University for tobacco use prevention and control. NCCC is instituting a smoke, vape and tobaccofree campus in 2019 and the SCSU funds have been instrumental in providing both cessation and informational services regarding tobacco and vaping use to students and the public.

To register for this free event, go to www.nwcc.edu/ events/know-vape