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‘Young Lungs at Play’ in North Warren and beyond

Photo submitted to Times Observer Left to right, Kourtney McIntyre, regional tobacco health educator of Armstrong and Indiana counties; Claire Coffin, regional tobacco health educator of Warren, Forest, Elk, Cameron, and McKean counties; and Rev. Buddy Ward, pastor of North Warren Presbyterian Church.

North Warren Presbyterian Church and Community House is the latest in a growing list of organizations, school districts, and municipalities that have joined Young Lungs at Play — an initiative by Adagio Health and the Northwest Pennsylvania Tobacco Control program to make public parks, playing fields, and playgrounds tobacco free.

The initiative, funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health, is a no-cost way for Warren County organizations, schools, and municipalities to eliminate children’s exposure to secondhand smoke. The initiative, according to Claire Coffin, Warren County’s regional tobacco health educator, “has been proven successful in other parts of Pennsylvania and the country.”

Young Lungs at Play, she said, “will help protect the environment and the health of all Warren County residents.”

“We value all of our children in the community and want to provide them with a safe environment where they can interact with family and friends without the harmful effects of secondhand smoke,” said Rev. Buddy Ward, pastor of the North Warren Presbyterian Church. “Children need to be protected from secondhand smoke and given every opportunity to grow up healthy, and that means tobacco-free spaces to play.”

Municipalities can designate parks, playgrounds, and recreation fields as tobacco-free spaces, then Adagio Health provides weather resistant “Young Lungs at Play” signage to be posted in those areas.

For information on the initiative, contact Claire Coffin at 814-706-9948 or email ccoffin@adagiohealth.org, or visit the Northwest Pennsylvania Tobacco Control Program at ecdh.org.

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