YMS students to learn ‘e-cig’ fallacies

Yerger Middle School health class students of Ms. Earlene Gulley began learning recently about the fallacies and harm of e-cigarette usage through the “Catch My Breath” smoking prevention series presented by YMS Nurse Marcia Widel, RN.

HOPE – So-called “e-cigarettes,” a vapor-based system of smoking, is the focus of discussion in a series of classes conducted at Yerger Middle School through the “Catch My Breath” curriculum on health.
The program was developed for grades six through eight from the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) program that resulted from the evidence-based “Class of 1989 Study,” according to the curriculum materials. Both CATCH and the “Class of 1989 Study” were funded by the National Institutes of Health, according to curriculum materials.
YMS Nurse Marcia Widel, RN, is the presenter of the peer discussion program for the health studies classes taught by Ms. Earlene Gulley.
E-cigarettes are designed to deliver substances through vapor generated by the battery-powered devices that are supposed to replace cigarettes, cigars and tobacco pipes.
“They are not just water vapor,” Widel told the class. “They are harmful.”
The series discussion will focus upon developing decision-making skills that reduce student interest in either smoking or the use of “e-cigarettes.”
“Because they are new, nobody is 100 percent certain how harmful E-cigarettes are,” the curriculum overview states.
The four-session series is an initiative of the YMS Wellness Committee.