At Brainerd High School, a survey conducted in 2019 found that 20 percent of students have reported vaping in the past 30 days. Essentia Health, along with community partners, are aiming to aggressively push back against the rising use of e-cigarettes with a new anti-vaping campaign, “Don’t Blow It.”

“For the past couple years, we’ve seen a really big increase in youth tobacco use, mainly because of e-cigarettes. This campaign is essentially a tool for schools and people who work with youth to have conversations and facilitate conversations with youth around e-cigarette use and the potential harms,” explained Jessica Williams, a community health educator with Essentia Health and Crow Wing Energized.

The campaign officially launched last week and and features toolkits comprised of resources and educational materials aimed at curbing vaping that schools and organizations can use.

“I think the most powerful thing in the tool kit is an actual video. It’s a 10 minute video and it actually is peers. It’s students talking about vaping. I think it’s a really powerful message to have the kids speaking to peers to peers, delivering that message,” added Karen Johnson with Essentia Health Community Health. “It’s just abundantly clear that the message is ‘just don’t start.’”

The campaign tool kit is available online for anyone to use. For more information, visit essentiahealth.org.

By — Rachel Johnson

Lakeland News Lead Reporter