More Support this Year

Here's a great article on the support HB2 has!

http://jackbetts.blogspot.com/2009/02/where-theres-smoke-theres-votes.html

Reason #7

Over the next seven days, we'll look at seven reasons to support HB2 and S205 (which is the Senate companion bill).

Reason Number Seven to Support HB 2
When people live and work in smoke-free enviornments, healthcare costs decline.

A recent study in Pueblo, Colorado found the rate of heart attacks declined 41% after a smoke-free law went into effect. Not only did fewer people have heart attacks, but it also had a rippling effect on the decline of public and private health care costs. When people live in smoke-free enviornments, less people have illnesses as a result of secondhand smoke, and more people quit smoking all together. As a result, individuals and the state spend less on healthcare.
Tobacco use costs North Carolina taxpayers $2.46 billion in direct healthcare costs ($769 million in Medicaid expenses alone), and $3.3 billion in lost productivity annually.

News and Observer Calls for Smoke-free

Everyone - check out this editorial in the Raleigh News and Observer today: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/editorials/story/1414107.html

This is a great editorial and the News and Observer joins the other major newspapers in our state calling on our state lawmakers to make all indoor worksites and public places smoke-free!

We have news that House Bill 2 will be heard in the House Health Committee at Noon on Thursday February 26th - now is the time to let the House Health Committee members that we want to protect all workers in NC from secondhand smoke. Tell them to keep HB 2 strong and to vote yes. To contact the House Health Committee, visit http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Committees/Committees.asp?sAction=ViewCommittee&sActionDetails=House%20Standing_26

We can do this - but we need everyone to speak up for smoke-free indoor air!

Introduction

Hey everyone,

Thanks for reading the blog. We have some pretty exciting things that are going to happen here over the next couple of months. This blog is going to be updated and moderated by Heart Association volunteers from across North Carolina. For now, get excited about the Heart Association's Lobby Day on March 3! Starting next Tuesday, I'm going to have a post every day, counting down the 7 reasons that HB2 is good for North Carolina. Keep on reading!

2009 is the Year for Smoke-free NC

This is the year North Carolina can make history - help us protect all our workers from exposure to deadly secondhand smoke. You can be a part of the cure - visit www.smokefreenc.org and send an e-mail to your lawmakers - tell them that all workers in our state deserve the right to breathe smoke-free indoor air while they are at work.

Do you know that just five minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke is the same as if you had smoked a cigarette? Think about it - what if you are exposed all day long while you are at work?

If we all use our voices and speak up for smoke-free we will join the 28 other states and D.C. that have protected their workers.

You are also invited to join the American Heart Association on March 3rd for the 2009 You're the Cure AHA State Lobby Day. To learn more contact Betsy Vetter, betsy.vetter@heart.org.

This is the year - let's make 2009 HB 2 protects us all from secondhand smoke!