Curious and concerned students gathered in the Main Quad for De Anza College’s spring Health Fair last Thursday .
The fair was organized by Mary-Jo Lomax, a health educator for Health Services, and the De Anza Associated Student Body senate.
“The focus is on tobacco control, but we invited a variety of organizations,” Lomax said.
Representatives from Nicotine Anonymous, De Anza Nutrition and Health Club, Stanford Prevention Research Center, American Lung Asso-ciation, Peninsula Stroke Association, Homestead Chiro-practic Clinic, and an AIDS prevention organization called Targeted Expansion Project for Outreach and Treatment all had booths at the event.
“We’re trying to change the smoking policy on campus and district-wide,” Lomax said. “The committee working on the smoke-free campus proposal will present its plans to the De Anza-Foothill Community College District Board of Trustee on June 6.”
Advocates propose a smoke-free De Anza campus, excepting designated areas such as certain parking lots.
A variety of groups passed out pamphlets, brochures, Frisbees, pins, stickers, magnets, wristbands, condoms, lubricant, candy, postcards, newsletters and other informational items.
“We have pamphlets informing students about healthy eating. We’re also the De Anza branch of Earthsave, a non-profit organization that promotes plant-based diets,” Nutrition and Health Club treasurer Tahirih Maddela said.
The Stanford Prevention Research Center recruited students to participate in a study comparing the reaction times of smokers and non-smokers. Volunteers will be paid $50 for their time — one hour at the Stanford campus — and participation.
“The study started in February and the results will be presented next fall at a conference,” said Leslee Throckmorton Belzer, postdoctoral fellow at the research center.
She said, “We’re interested in why students between the ages of 18 and 24 are still not quitting smoking. The study looks at one aspect why they don’t and we hope to prove this one reason.”
Lamont Jones, program educator for the American Lung Association, said his organization wants to inform students about the dangers of smoking.
He was appalled at the number of smokers on campus.
“It’s like being in Europe at De Anza, because everyone is lighting up and smoking here. It’s even worse because the campus is enclosed, and second-hand smoke affects everyone,” Lamont said.
Nicotine Anonymous, an organization similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, held an informational booth next to the American Lung Association.
The organization features a 12-step program for people who want to stop smoking, representative Gloria Brown said.
Brown smoked for 43 years and finally quit at the age of 60 with the help of Nicotine Anonymous.
The Targeted Expansion Project for Outreach and Treatment passed out lucky red envelopes containing condoms and lubricant.
Since condoms are sometimes viewed negatively in Asian Pacific communities, the red envelopes are meant to bring a positive connotation to safe sex TEPOT health educator Walter Chang explained.
“We hope to break down that taboo in the Asian Pacific community and that safe sex should not be pushed aside,” Chang said.
The group featured two informational boards displaying different types of lubrication and condoms available to students.
“We provide STD, HIV, hepatitis and other prevention information for the students. We also administer surveys and provide slightly scaled or free health services to students who don’t have the means to obtain it through their health care provider,” Chang said.
Dr. Helga Kovacs of the Homestead Chiropractic Group gave a free complete chiropractic exam to students at the fair. The exam included a spinal exam and a nervous system check-up.
“This is our third year here at the Health Fair. Our purpose is to expand people’s knowledge of other options for health care. We care about the students and serving the community,” Kovacs said.
“We probably had between 50 to 100 people stop by. All in all, it was a successful event. We’re happy that we had representatives from the community as well as clubs. All of the invitees thought it was successful and worth their while, which is always nice to hear” Lomax said.
After you quit smoking:
Within 20 minutes
– Blood pressure drops to normal
– Pulse rate drops to normal rate
– Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal
After 8 hours
– Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
– Oxygen level in blood increases to normal
After 24 hours
– Chance of heart attack decreases
After 48 hours
– Nerve endings regrow
– Ability to smell and taste begin to improve
Courtesy of Nicotine Anonymous
Posted: 12:00 AM PDT (0700 GMT)
