Taipans, Pride promote No Tobacco Day
Thursday May 29 2014, 1:35pm
By Boyd Robertson
Health organisations and local sports teams have teamed up to try to reduce smoking rates in Indigenous communities ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Saturday.
Kids and families at the Mossman Gorge Indigenous Community got a surprise visit by players from the Cairns Taipans and Northern Pride to raise awareness of the health risks of smoking.
The visit was co-organised by a group of Indigenous health organisations and community service groups including Apunipima Cape York Health Council, Wuchopperen Health Services, and Police Citizens Youth Club.
Taipans player Shaun Bruce and Northern Pride players Blake Leary and Josh Mene ran kids through several play exercises while staff from Apunipuma and Wuchopperen handed out t-shirts and free food, all the while sharing information about the health impacts of tobacco smoke.
Nelson Lee from Wuchopperen said World No Tobacco Day wasn’t about telling people ‘what they can and can’t do’ but instead about ‘raising awareness’ about the effects of smoking on individuals and communities.
“It’s about raising awareness among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that tobacco is one of the biggest killers in their communities,” he said.
“It’s one of the biggest causes of preventable death and disease in the world.
“Really what it’s about is trying to get people to think about the impact of tobacco smoking not only on themselves but on their families as well.”
Mr Lee said that tobacco smoking health impacts included risks of cancer, tar buildup, emphesyma and blindness, but that health organisations like Wuchopperen had seen a slight but noticable decline in smoking rates in indigenous communities over the last five years.