Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118396

Adenike Bitto, MD, DrPH, MPH, CHES¹, Jacquelyn A. Hakim, MS, MPH², Robert Moses³, Patricia Graham, PhD⁴, Hamilton Banks⁵, Vivian Morris, MS, CPS⁶, Eugenia Craig¹, Robert Hillman⁷, Solibe and Uchenna Ufondu, MD, MD⁸, Wayne Bolt⁹, Jeffrey D. Ewen, MPH RPH¹⁰, and Helen Willis, RN, President¹¹. (1) ESU, P.O. Box 155, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (570)422-3375, abitto@po-box.esu.edu, (2) Director, Monroe County Vector Control, 38 North 7th Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360, (3) Director of Residence Life, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (4) Academic Enrichment and Learning, East Stroudsburg University, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (5) Community Activist, P. O. Box 543, Shawnee On Delaware, PA 18356, (6) Concerned Community Member, Past Tobacco Prevention and Contorl Coordinator, c/o P.O. Box 155, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (7) Chairman of the Unity Coalition of Pocono & Vice President, NAACP of Monroe County, 46 East First Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (8) Pocono Adult & Pediatric Medical Group, 302 East Brown Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (9) Hillside Inn (Located at Marshall's Creek), Executive Vice-President, RR 18, Box 6000, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, (10) Independent Researcher, 36 Club CT, Stroudsburg, PA 18360, (11) Lehigh Valley Sickle Cell Support Group, Inc., P.O. Box 1711, Allentown, PA 18105-1711

The aphorism that “it takes a village to raise a child,” can certainly be applied to the cooperation needed for successful public health interventions. The product to be birthed, nurtured and brought to full maturation is good health for all, including health education, health promotion/protection and equitable access to primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention and health care services. This paper will share from our local project on tobacco prevention, control and cessation for disparate populations and African Americans. Members of the project's Advisory Board have been an invaluable asset as they provide guidance, direction, technical/social/other contributions, resourcefulness, and shared knowledge. They also function as repositories of community history/awareness. Advisory Board members have been particularly effective in providing an avenue of outreach to serve vulnerable populations in the County. Through project initiatives, several hundred individuals have taken the EPA pledge not to smoke/ not to allow smoking in their homes or vehicles. The project continues to share on Pennsylvania's Free Quitline. Children and youth have been active during our health education outreach events, and oftentimes they go back, and bring their parents to learn about the adverse health effects of tobacco. Through the auspices of the Advisory Board, the project continues to get invitations to visit with community in all kinds of forums, including elementary, middle and high schools, other community functions, and the formal Annual African American Tobacco Summit, organized by the Advisory Board. Participants at this session will learn about the process of selection for our Advisory Boards members, and how contact was initiated with key informants and community gatekeepers. This will be followed by a discussion of the specifics of Board member assistance, and how individual member contributions function to complement one another's efforts. Public Health projects that need an Advisory Board must be open to the great resources and community experts out there!

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Evaluate the role of a multidisciplinary and committed Advisory Board membership in developing and implementing projects that reach vulnerable populations.
• Modify and apply our local procedures for developing/recruiting Advisory Board members to help in tobacco prevention, control and cessation projects for disparate populations and African Americans.

Keywords: Community Development, Tobacco Control

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.