The Kentucky Center for Smoke Free Policy is an organization that works with educating the general public of the many dangers of smoke, both from tobacco products and from "e-cigarettes." KCSP (Kentucky Center for Smoke Free Policy) goes above and beyond that of typical campaigns by actually conducting experiments and observations in-house (the organization conducts experiments themselves). When my group and I went to meet Monica Mundy, our supervisor, we also had the privilege of meeting the data collection Manager, who is responsible for over seeing and examining all of the data collected so that everything presented to the advertising team is factual. The KCSP is an organization that is decorated with successes, such as being a part of helping 30+ communities become smoke free. They also help aid in the education of students attending UK, this program is working with college students who are looking to gain experience in a real world application, from the data being collected, to the information going to the public, the students help.

(the the far left, is Susan Mtoubsi, April Gahafer, Monica Mundy, Mariah Caise, and the far right is Marygrace Gugger)
        

          My group members and I went to meet up with Monica Mundy on Tuesday. September 15^th and it was during this meeting that we were allowed to get a deeper understanding of what we would be contributing to this courageous mission. Monica explained that the first few weeks of our volunteering would be spent going through and organizing important files. We are going to be scanning files and cataloging them in such a way that is going to be easily accessible for everyone once they move to a new location. Following those primary weeks, we will begin advertising the KCSP campaign by networking social media, and by updating their webpage. If you were to go onto the website you would notice immediately the condition that it is in; its very unsightly, difficult to maneuver and overall, in need of an upgrade. My group members and I look forward to the opportunity to help not only the website, so that people can be further educated in the consequences of smoke inhalation, but also the overall mission.

(This is a picture of the outside, old, location of the Smoke Free Policy Center.)

Initial Reflection

The Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy or KCSP for short is an organization under the UK College of Nursing that focus on promoting smoke-free communities and providing information regarding all types of smoking. To be honest when I first visited the website, I found it quite unappealing. There is a lot of unused blank space which could have been utilized in a more efficient manner. I have yet to meet with the supervisor, Monica Mundy, for my first orientation and so my thoughts on the organization are purely based on what information I could gather via the internet. While certainly their website was not very aesthetically pleasing, I was impressed by the sheer amount of information made available for the public to view. For example, they provide a detailed informational sheet regarding e-cigarettes, its components, and potential health hazards. I thought this was very important because most people, including myself, likely would not know how e-cigs are similar and different to regular tobacco products. Through the very informative information, I was able to learn that while advertisements say that e-cigs are supposedly better alternatives to smoking tobacco, they have the same effects as smoking tobacco after using for five minutes.

information provided on e-cigs

From my research, I was not able to find if the KCSP had a FaceBook or not, but they did indeed have a very active and involved Twitter page. Through social media, they have been spreading their initiatives and showing people how earnest they are about creating healthier environments and informing the uninformed. While the website is the main source of information for anything smoke-related, their social media seems to be the main source of current events and updates taking place for the organization. Not only that, I think the avid use of Twitter is a great idea of trying to connect with the younger generation consisting of students and even children. It is better to inform people about the hazards of smoking as early as possible, and the KCSP clearly realizes that. It is good to see that the people within the organization seem to be very passionate about what they do. They are constantly striving to make the air cleaner, and as fellow advocate of non-smoking, I am looking forward to working with them. 

a poster promoting tobacco free areas

Initial reflection the Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy

 The Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy works to encourage communities to become smoke-free by making data on the dangers of smoking easily accessible and helping to educate the public through a conference and direct public outreach. Being “smoke-free” means that a city or county has passed laws prohibiting smoking inside or near public buildings and workplaces. This is still an important campaign. Even though the University of Kentucky has been smoke-free for seven years, Lexington itself has only begun the transition to being smoke-free earlier this year. Still other communities have yet to begin the transition at all. On the 15th of September, I met with Ms. Monica Mundy to discuss what my volunteering will look like this semester. She mentioned that once the Center moves to its new, larger location, most of my service will be designing social media campaigns to encourage smoke-free policy. I visited the website for Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy and their twitter page to better learn what that should look like. 

homepage of Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy

The website was not visually appealing, the information is squeezed in the center of the page and the graphics are much too small, but it is very easy to navigate. I could easily find their mission statement and the fact sheets with seemingly endless evidence that describes in no uncertain terms how bad smoking is for an individual's health and the health of a community. But in the nicely bulleted lists the information is cold and impersonal; the twitter page was what held the shock value. 

graphic depiction of a smoker next to a nonsmoker

smoking while pregnant is dangerous to both you and your child

On the twitter page graphic images and sharp, snappy catchphrases take the information from the fact sheets and help to distribute it to the larger world. Like any successful social media campaign, the messages are short and poignant. An organization has mere seconds to catch the attention of the scrolling audience. They do that through simple, bold type that's easy to read quickly and shocking images. The top image, for example, caused me to stop and try to decided what exactly the guy smoking is made of and how to I keep myself from looking the same way. 

Social media campaigns against smoking are all about depicting smoking as negatively as possible as quickly as possible. And not just for the person who is choosing to smoke, for everyone who is unfortunate enough to be around them. I am excited to work with Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy to help design this year's campaign. I believe smoking is a selfish choice because of the lasting harm it does to those around the smoker. Therefore I am excited to help encourage people to quit- for the sake of their children, their significant others, or even for the sake of their pets. I am also excited because this campaign gives me an opportunity to help translate science to the human experience. I am challenged to take data from studies and express it in ways that everyone can understand. I think this is an important step for public education of the dangers of smoking; not everyone understands what a researcher means when he or she expresses values to a 0.05 confidence interval, but everyone can understand that smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in Kentucky. I cannot wait to begin working with Kentucky Center for Smoke-free Policy!

Initial service learning reflection post

The Kentucky Center for Smoke Free is an organization that is focused on the surveys and research conducted throughout time. They have factual information to back up the cause that it stands for, which is reducing the use of tobacco and second-hand smoke. This is a serious organization with devoted people who are striving for the same goal. These people are all positive and I can tell that they want the best for society. This organization wants people to know the health risks and danger they are putting their bodies through.

            The first meeting with Monica Mundy was informational and reassuring as to what we are going to be working towards. At first we will have to help sort through files to prepare for the organization’s move. But after that is done, she informed us that we would spending a lot of our time campaigning on social media for taking care of your lungs. We are going to be creating various ads and promotional flyers to support the cause of keeping our lungs healthy. We will be creating Facebook pages and posting tweets on twitter to further spread the word of our organization and get people more educated. Monica also told us that the bulk of our volunteering would be done in November, which is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. During this month we will be mainly at tables all over campus to inform the students about Lung Cancer and how to keep them as healthy as possible. Also, there will be a sort of festival to honor the 7^th anniversary of the Kentucky Smoke free at the University. It will be an opportunity for students to play games, and win prizes while acknowledging the organization’s purpose for smoke free policy.

Many people are unaware of all the hazardous effects any type of smoke has on a person’s body, so I’m excited to inform people and make them aware.  This organization makes people aware and it has factual evidence to back it up. It has conducted surveys on the hazardous effects of second-hand smoke, providing strategies on how to have cleaner air indoors, and intervention from lung cancer. In addition they educate people on the link between lung cancer and radon, which is a radioactive gas in the air. Also, by using Facebook and Twitter, they are able to appeal to many teenagers and kids these days because everyone is always on social media sites. They tweet personal and intense statistics or pictures to draw attention to the people scrolling through. For instance one picture (above) the KYsmokefree tweeted as the caption: What would you miss more: your children or your cigarettes?

Initial Service Learning Reflection

The Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy is an organization rooted in informing the general public of the dangers of smoking and the effects of second-hand smoke and radon in a community and especially in one's home.  This organization performs many studies and conducts a great deal of research to enable the public to take their health seriously and work to promote a safer and healthier environment for all people.

After meeting with Monica Mundy, the Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy, our service learning group received great insights into what we could expect to be helping with throughout the semester.  The majority of service with our site will be done during the month of November which is when our group members will most likely be at tables around campus giving out information about the dangers of tobacco smoke and the benefits of smoke-free communities.  There will also be a celebration in November in order to honor the 7th anniversary of the University of Kentucky's campus becoming smoke-free.  In addition to our work in November, throughout the semester, our group will be assisting the leaders of the organization to produce social media campaigns and slogans mainly posted on Facebook and Twitter.

The Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy's Twitter campaign mainly focuses on promoting laws that help create smoke-free communities within Kentucky.  Additionally, they focus on the dangers of eCigs and second hand smoke, along with drawing positive attention to venues, individuals/organization, and signs that promote smoke-free living.  By adding links and hashtags to their tweets they give individuals the opportunity to read and learn more about the dangers of smoking and the benefits of creating smoke-free communities.  One example of the interesting ways they grab the attention of the public while commending a smoke-free community was in their tweet from July 4!

KCSP regularly tweets promoting new campaigns and breakthroughs in legislation regarding Anti-smoking policy.