January 6, 2006
Contact: Bev Pfeifer-Harms
Director of Communications
314.345.5500 office

Health Departments in Butler and Scott Counties Receive Funding

MFH awards $228,689 to help educate youth and assist adults in kicking habit

St. Louis - - Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has awarded grants to Butler County Health Department (BCHD) and Scott County Health Department (SCHD) as part of MFH's nine-year, $40 million Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative.

Butler County Health Department received a $205,050 community grant to implement two tobacco prevention and cessation programs to 2,500 residents in that county. These programs, Employer Assisted Smoking Elimination (EASE) and Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), are nationally recognized curricula created by the American Lung Association of Missouri. The Lung Association received a regional grant from MFH in 2004 to expand training for community organizations interested in implementing EASE, TATU, and a third American Lung Association program, Freedom From Smoking (FFS). Per the initiative's guidelines, community grant recipients, such as BCHD, implement the regional grantee's programs in order to maximize the consistency and effectiveness of messages, models and activities aimed at preventing and curbing tobacco use.

Scott County Health Department also received a $23,639 community grant to provide tobacco prevention and cessation programs to 175 residents of southeast Missouri. SCHD will implement the EASE and FFS programs.

"Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and results in the death of 10,300 Missourians each year. Further, unfortunately, southeast Missouri has a higher-than-average smoking rate," said Dr. James Kimmey, MFH president and CEO. "The Foundation is confident that these two health departments will help many individuals stop smoking and prevent hundreds of others from starting."

MFH's Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative focuses on three areas - school-based prevention programming, workplace cessation programming and an increase of the state tobacco tax. MFH already has granted about $6.8 million to nine regional and community organizations through this initiative.

Established in 2000, MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in the state. The Foundation is in its fourth year of grantmaking, having issued more than $148 million in grants and awards to date. It is dedicated to serving the uninsured and underserved in 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis. For more information about MFH, visit www.mffh.org.

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