Raise Smoke Free Kids

About ONE Step

ONE Step’s purpose is to create smokefree environments for children through education, planning, and action.

ONE Step provides two ways to reach and educate parents/caregivers about the importance of smokefree and vapefree places, better understand asthma, and provide resources for quitting smoking:

1. The RaiseSmokeFreeKids.com website provides education to parents or organizations serving parents in Colorado about secondhand smoke, aerosol from e-cigarettes, asthma, and quitting smoking.
2. Training is provided (online or in-person) for professionals serving parents, such as those working in childcare facilities, to support their efforts to raise awareness about the health impacts of secondhand smoke exposure on children, current smokefree policies, and asthma.

Upcoming Trainings:

• Saturday, 01/13/24, 8:00 am – 10:00 am click here to join.
• Wednesday, 01/24/24, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm click here to join.

ONE Step also includes asthma education because asthma is the most common chronic condition in children (1).  Asthma education can help people identify and prevent flare-ups that may be caused by secondhand smoke or other environmental triggers.  Helping children and caregivers understand what triggers asthma attacks and how to handle them allows kids to spend less time worrying about inhalers and more time just being kids.  After all, kids should be able to breathe easy knowing they are safe and protected no matter where they are.

WHY ONE STEP?

Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard causing more than 41,000 deaths per year in the United States (2).  Secondhand smoke causes approximately 7,330 deaths from lung cancer and 33,950 deaths from heart disease each year (3). It can cause or make worse a wide range of damaging health effects in children and adults, including lung cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.  Children are especially vulnerable to the dangerous effects of secondhand smoke – especially asthmatic children.

When it comes to smoky environments and exposure to second- or thirdhand smoke, children’s exposure is involuntary.  That is why providing resources and cleaning up the environments children share on a daily basis is extremely important.  ONE Step helps to do this through education and accessible resources to engage professionals and parents in conversations focused on the effects of secondhand smoke on children and provides steps to protect children.