FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 12, 2000

CONTACT: Laurie Slothower
(916)734-9023
pager: (916) 762-9855

UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER, CSU-SACRAMENTO JOIN FORCES TO SEND ANTI- TOBACCO MESSAGE TO SCHOOLS
Danger of head-neck cancer is focus of outreach effort to students

(SACRAMENTO, Calif) - Students in Steve Gilbert's seventh-grade class at Glen Edwards Middle School in Lincoln had heard about the dangers of smoking, but they were shocked to see close-up the effects that tobacco can have on people with life-threatening cancers of the throat and mouth.

"Seeing the damage caused by head and neck cancer really got their attention," said Gilbert, a physical education teacher at the school. "A lot of the kids left the presentation concerned about smoking, especially secondhand smoke."

Alerting adolescents to the risks of tobacco at an age when they will be choosing whether or not to smoke is the goal of the outreach effort being sponsored by the UC Davis Medical Center and nursing students at California State University-Sacramento.

Part of the Yul Brynner Foundation Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week, which runs from April 17-23, the outreach effort includes CSU Sacramento nursing students and professors, UC Davis Medical Center nurses and cancer patients.

The group has visited schools in the Sacramento City, Fairfield, Folsom-Rancho Cordova and Davis school districts throughout April, giving a 45-minute presentation on the effects of smoking or chewing tobacco. They expect to reach 2,000 junior high and high school students. Their last stop is at Elk Grove schools on Tuesday, April 25.

The presentation includes graphic medical slides of the effects of head and neck cancer as well as educational materials on smoking, secondhand smoke and chewing tobacco.

"The kids get bombarded with 'don't smoke' messages, but they usually don't see the real-life consequences of smoking and chewing tobacco," said Elisan Lavtt, a nursing student in her final year at CSU Sacramento. "I didn't expect the students to be so affected by our presentation, but their teachers said they're still talking about it."

"They were really surprised -- they can't believe the kids they know or see out on the street smoking could end up with head and neck cancer," adds Ann Sievers, a UC Davis Medical Center ear, nose and throat specialty nurse who coordinated of the program.

"The most difficult question students ask is, 'How can we get our parents to stop smoking?' We tell them to take responsibility for themselves and to set a good example.

Statistics tell the sad story: Head and neck cancer will claim 70,000 lives this year. Cancers of lips, tongue, mouth, throat, larynx and epiglottis are difficult to cure; fewer than 60 percent of all head and neck cancer patients are alive five years after diagnosis. More than 90 percent of these cancers could be prevented by not using tobacco.

UC Davis Medical Center participates annually in the Yul Brynner Foundation Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Week. For more information, call (916) 734-2790.

Copies of all news releases from UC Davis Health System are available on the web at http://news.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu .

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