FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 17, 2004
Contact:
Ted Schiele
Tompkins County Health Department
274-6712 tschiele@tompkins-co.org
OR
Jennifer Hamilton
Cortland County Health Department
758-5501 jhamilton@cortland-co.org
Local tobacco groups plan survey of area residents.
A survey of tobacco use, attitudes and perceptions will be conducted
among Tompkins and Cortland County residents beginning later this
month. The Tobacco Control Coalitions of Tompkins and Cortland Counties
are conducting the telephone survey to obtain information that will
help guide the coalitions' activities in the coming years. Watertown,
NY-based Joel LaLone Consulting, a specialist in community studies,
has been contracted to administer the survey. The survey was developed
with the Tobacco Surveillance, Evaluation and Research Team of the
New York State Department of Health in Albany. The same survey will
be conducted in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties, and
will be repeated in one year.
The tobacco survey of adults living in Tompkins and Cortland counties
will run from May 23 to June 7, 2004. Four hundred randomly selected
residents from each county will be polled by telephone. Questions
will cover topics such as tobacco marketing and promotion, the state's
clean indoor air law, and use of tobacco products. The survey call
will take about five minutes.
Participation in the survey is voluntary and individuals may decline
to answer particular questions, may discontinue the survey at any
time, or decline to take the survey altogether. The survey is completely
anonymous and all calls will remain strictly confidential. The survey
taker will review this information at the beginning of their call.
The Tobacco Control Coalitions of Tompkins and Cortland Counties
are funded by a grant from the New York State Tobacco Control Program.
The mission of the state Tobacco Control Program is to reduce morbidity
and mortality and alleviate the social and economic burden caused
by tobacco use in New York State. Recent coalition activities in Tompkins
and Cortland Counties have focused on public awareness and understanding
of the state's expanded clean indoor air law, working with schools
to teach about the health risks of tobacco use, and promoting quit-smoking
programs and options. For more information about the Tompkins County
coalition or about the tobacco survey, call Ted Schiele at the Tompkins
County Health Department at 274-6712, write tschiele@tompkins-co.org.
Cortland County residents contact Jennifer Hamilton at the Cortland
County Health Department at 758-5501 or jhamilton@cortland-co.org.
The Tompkins County coalition maintains a web site at www.tompkins-co.org/wellness/tobaccofree/.
###