UQSUQTUUQ/GJOA HAVEN
From using a jar and molasses to visualize the concept of tar-laden lungs to urge students not to join the smoking rush after school, a new school initiative in Gjoa Haven aims to have students kick the habit.
Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik student Ian Bergen writes his name on one of the blue T-shirts for the Tobacco Has No Place Here club of which he is a member. The group wrote each other's names on the T-shirts for the community to recognize they are working together to kick the habit. - photo courtesy of Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik |
Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik teacher Trina Sallerina accepted an invitation from the territorial government to start a Tobacco Has No Place Here club, where about 25 students from grades 7 to 12 meet every Sunday to try and quit smoking. As long as they are in the school or with her during the meetings, Sallerina said there is no tobacco use and no tobacco breaks. She's trying to curb the habit during school days too.
Smokers don't get a chance to smoke during school hours as the school has no smoke breaks. They can only smoke before and after school as well as during lunch, Sallerina noted.
"At 3:30 (p.m.), you have a mass of kids that want to go outside and smoke because they're not allowed to smoke between 1 (p.m.) and 3:30 (p.m.)," she said.
Instead of going outside after school, she said she told the students to get chewing gum from her, wait 10 minutes, then see if they still want to go outside. One reason teenagers find it hard to quit, said Sallerina, is they go together.
"If they wait 10 minutes after everybody else has gone outside to go smoke, hopefully they don't want to smoke or won't want to smoke as badly," she said. "Hopefully we can have - especially our young people - quit smoking altogether. That's ultimately what I would love to see: no smoking."
The club received an iPad to document the different activities they do to promote anti-tobacco, such as games to learn tobacco- and health-related facts and videos about tobacco use, said Sallerina.
"It's not just one person trying to quit. There are many of us who would like other people to quit, for themselves to quit," she said. "The people who are trying to quit, we come up with a plan they make so they can try and get through until the next Sunday and then we'll take a look and see whether or not it worked. If it did, great. We'll be able to talk about it and share it."
She said if it didn't work they can work on another plan.
The community was invited to the club's Jan. 20 meeting. If more people continue to come, and the group grows, then it will show more people are becoming interested in quitting smoking, said Sallerina. Even if they just want to find out what's going on, then the group will be more successful, she added.
"I'm not interested in who comes. I'm interested in how many people come," said Sallerina. "And then, hopefully from there, they can either tell their parents or grandparents or themselves and the message gets spread. Because if it's only the same amount of people, then the message doesn't get any further."
