Posted 14 hours ago
By Pat Bailey
Grade 4 students learned last week that there’s nothing magical about smoking.
In fact, the Windsor Essex County Health Unit would like cigarettes to disappear altogether.
Last week the health unit, in co-operation with the OPP, the Lung Association, local school boards and the Windsor Police, celebrated “National Non-Smoking Week” by inviting Grade 4 students from throughout the area to ‘Hocus Pocus Vanish Smoking’, an educational magic show aimed at preventing students from ever beginning smoking.
The magic show, hosted by Maxwell and Ta-Dah, included two performances on Monday, Jan. 16, at Kingsville’s Migration Hall for students from Gore Hill, East Mersea, Queen of Peace, St. Louis, Mount Carmel Blytheswood, Kingsville Public, Jack Miner and St. John’s, as well as other schools from throughout the county. Similar performances were held for Windsor’s Grade 4 students at Dr. David Suzuki Elementary School on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Maxwell shared his own battle with nicotine addiction and the subsequent health problems that could have cost him his life.
Maxwell told the kids, as he escaped the wrist shackles and turned handkerchiefs into balloon animals to just say ‘MOE’.
The magician urged the youngsters to make smart choices, take advantage of the ‘opportunity’ to be smoke-free and enjoy ‘everyday’ as a smoke-free day.
The easiest way to escape the addiction said Maxwell, on numerous occasions, is to never start smoking.
Maxwell told the group that their work will not be in vain if they can persuade just one prospective smoker never to light up a cigarette.
Heather Gartner, public health nurse with the health unit, was also on hand to show the youngsters the damage smoking can cause to a person’s lungs. Gartner displayed two sets of lungs — healthy ones and those heavily damaged by smoking.
Gartner said the health unit’s current focus is regulating smoking at outdoor sports or recreation events or areas.
In fact, in an online survey, ‘What’s Sporting About Tobacco?’, regarding the subject in the past two years, seven out of 10 participants indicated they would support a complete ban on the use of tobacco in all outdoor sports and recreation areas.
The survey got specific, asking participants to agree or disagree depending on the sport or recreation — from walking trails to playgrounds.
Nearly 63% agreed with banning smoking on hiking trails, while nearly 76% agreed smoking should be banned on playgrounds. The remainder, skateboarding, beaches, outdoor ice rinks, ball fields soccer fields, tennis courts, volleyball courts and arena property all fell between those percentages.
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