NKY BUILD Grant Partnership to Help Curb Tobacco Use in Covington and Gallatin County
(Covington, KY) – “Quit for Good,” is the message going out to residents of Covington and Gallatin County, Ky. A unique partnership between the BUILD Health Challenge, a national program that utilizes community partnerships to improve health, and local entities including the Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Interact for Health, the Northern Kentucky Health Department, Three Rivers District Health Department, and The Center for Great Neighborhoods was launched today to help reduce smoking rates in these two areas of northern Kentucky.
Kentucky has the highest smoking rates of any state in the country, with more than 24% of adults in the state reporting that they use tobacco, compared to 13.9% nationwide. This prompted the local group to apply for a grant from the BUILD Health Challenge. The project announced today will incorporate more than $500,000 of funding: $250,000 from the BUILD program which was supported by Interact for Health, as well as $250,000 in matching funds from St. Elizabeth Healthcare, whose stated vision is to “lead northern Kentucky to become one of the healthiest communities in America”.
“Kentucky leads the nation in lung cancer deaths, and smoking related illnesses cost the Commonwealth more than $2 billion annually,” said Karen Finan, President and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance, the local organization that applied for the grant. “We brought together a strong, collaborative group of community partners to make this possible, and the commitment from St. Elizabeth provides a wide range of resources to help us launch and sustain this program”.
The Quit for Good program provides a two-week supply of nicotine patches to residents and workers in Covington and Gallatin County. Available from
participating local pharmacies, the patches help aide those who are trying to quit smoking. In addition to the nicotine patches, pharmacists at participating pharmacies can help those interested in quitting smoking connect with other cessation resources.
An official launch of the Quit for Good campaign was held this morning at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington. Representatives of the NKY BUILD Grant Partnership that spoke included Karen Finan, President & CEO – Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance, Garren Colvin, CEO – St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Lynne Saddler, MD., District Director of Health – Northern Kentucky Health Department, Kate Keller, VP Strategy & Policy – Interact for Health, and Dan Petronio, Associate Director – Center for Great Neighborhoods.
“Working together with the BUILD partners and the community, we are enabling local pharmacies to provide free nicotine replacement patches to help people quit smoking,”, said Dr. Lynne Saddler, District Director of Health, Northern Kentucky Health Department. “By doing so, we not only can impact the health of the adults who quit, but also the children and families in the community.”.
More information can be found at:
www.quitforgoodcovington.org and www.quitforgoodgallatin.org
About the NKY BUILD Grant Partnership: The partnership is comprised of the Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, Interact for Health, the Northern Kentucky Health Department, Three Rivers District Health Department, and The Center for Great Neighborhoods. These organizations will work together, with guidance from BUILD advisors, to identify and implement innovative solutions to community challenges. Matching funds from St. Elizabeth Healthcare, combined with BUILD’s $231,056 two-year grant from the BUILD Health Challenge, will further extend the partnership’s capacity to help reduce smoking rates in Covington and Gallatin County.
About the BUILD Health Challenge: Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BUILD (Bold, Upstream, Integrated, Local, and Data-driven initiatives) Health Challenge is an initiative designed to foster and expand meaningful partnerships among health systems, community based organizations, local health departments, and other organizations that impact health in the community. The funding partners behind the challenge seek to catalyze meaningful progress toward total population health. BUILD Health projects take upstream approaches to improve community health and promote health equity.