Vaping has quickly escalated to a very critical public health issue in New England and across the country. The U.S. CDC issued a health advisory related to over 530 cases of vaping-related pulmonary disease cases occurring throughout the country. Cases have involved legal and illicit products, nicotine and THC products, and are hitting many regions of the country including right here in New England. This crisis is hitting all age groups, with 16% of cases involving Americans 18 years of age and younger and 67% of cases affecting those between the ages of 18 and 35. As the CDC and other federal entities continue to investigate, they strongly urge Americans to not use e-cigarette and vaping devices.
New England states have quickly jumped into action to address this health crisis and educate the public on the risks and harms of vaping. To assist in these efforts, the New England PTTC is launching two new resources for vaping prevention in New England.
The first, is a new page added to the New England PTTC website that lists regional and national resources for vaping. The page includes the health advisories from each New England state, plus resources that have been developed by the states to raise awareness of the health issues related to vaping and how to get help with nicotine addiction. The page also lists national resources and advisories, and includes links to vaping education resources from PTTCs in other regions of the country. The resource page can be accessed here: New England Vaping Resources and Information The page will continue to be updated as new data, information, and resources become available.
The second resource is the launch of the New England PTTC's first Project ECHO learning community, with a focus on vaping and vaping prevention. A description of the program is below.
Program Description:
There is an alarming rise in the number of American teens and adults who are trying vaping. It is reversing the hard-fought declines achieved in the use nicotine. Vaping may pose serious and avoidable effects on health and brain development and the potential for addiction in youth. This Project ECHO will bring expert faculty together with groups from across New England who are focusing their efforts on substance use prevention to share knowledge and strategies to further their efforts to reduce vaping and its associated harms through case-based learning. This Project ECHO® on reducing vaping is first of a series of ECHO Projects to be initiated by the NEPTTC.
Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is an evidence-based distance learning method developed by researchers at the University of New Mexico. The 9-month program begins in October 2019 with monthly sessions between October and May.
Learning Objectives: