PORT ALLEGANY — On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health welcomed S. W. Smith Memorial Library in Port Allegany to the growing list of McKean County community partners who have joined Young Lungs at Play!, an initiative to make outdoor areas, such as public parks, recreational areas and playgrounds tobacco-free.
The library invites all McKean County cities, municipalities, school districts, libraries and county government to join its efforts in eliminating children’s exposure to secondhand smoke at local public parks, recreational areas and playgrounds by participating in Young Lungs at Play!, a no-cost tobacco-free parks and playground initiative that has been proven successful in other parts of Pennsylvania and the country. The initiative will help protect the environment and the health of all McKean County residents.
This initiative assists municipalities to designate certain areas free from all forms of tobacco use. The Pennsylvania Department of Health then provides weather-resistant Young Lungs at Play! signs that can be posted in those tobacco-free zones.
“We have received three signs,” said Mary Grace Collier Kisler, library director. “One will be displayed at the parking lot entrance, and other two are to be placed in the outdoor seating area. We plan to spend some time informing the public about the library’s tobacco-free policy before it becomes effective Jan. 2, 2018.”
Speaking about the new policy, which she noted will be similar to the smoking bans on school property, Lynn Farber, vice-president of the library’s board of directors, added, “It will keep the library’s entire property a healthy property.”
For Farber, this new policy will not only eliminate secondhand smoke dangers for the library patrons and staff, but it also will reduce the risk of fire from cigarettes. Cigarette butts, which studies have shown are the world’s most littered items, make outdoor areas unattractive, cost money for cleanup and can be hazardous to young children by posing risks of nicotine exposure. Farber said, “Stubbed cigarettes have damaged our outdoor furniture. Then there was the case of a cigarette that ignited a mulch pile. Luckily, a neighbor saw the fire and came over and extinguished it.”
S. W. Smith Memorial Library will be placed on the Pennsylvania Young Lungs at Play Honor Roll, joining other McKean County members: Bradford City, Foster and Wetmore townships, Mount Jewett and Smethport boroughs, Kane, Port Allegany and Smethport school districts, as well as the McKean County Housing Authority.
For more information about the Young Lungs at Play! program, contact Claire Coffin at the Pennsylvania Department of Health Northwest Region Office at 814-451-6700 or visit www.ecdh.org. This program is supported by the Erie County Health Department and funded through the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Collier-Kisler said that if there is sufficient interest, the library could start smoking cessation classes through Adagio Health. A minimum of five people would be required to hold the sessions that would meet for one hour a week for six weeks.
To register, contact Collier-Kisler at the library.
