Parents at the John E. Boyd Center for Child Care & Development on Rodman Street in Fall River are signing up to declare their homes and cars Smoke Free Zones. This is part of a program offered by Partners for Clean Air, a program of the Seven Hills Behavioral Health. The Smoke-Free Homes Campaign, funded by the EPA, has collected over 1,000 smoke-free homes pledges in Fall River and New Bedford. During the next two years, the campaign will collaborate with six early childhood partner organizations to enlist families with smokers in the home, who have children ages five and under, to sign a pledge in order to protect their children from exposure to secondhand smoke. Those families that sign the pledge receive a Smoke-Free Homes kit (available in English, Portuguese, and Spanish) and those who do not are contacted throughout the project to receive new information sheets about exposure to secondhand smoke at each intervention. In addition, a media campaign will be implemented by placing ads on the interior and exterior of city buses, as well as distributing posters throughout the community. For more information, contact Judith Coykendall, 508-996-3147, Ext. 203.
 

(Top row) Cherie Martins, whose children are enrolled at the Boyd Center, goes over the information on Smoke Free Homes with staff member Meghan Hague. (Middle row) Staff member Donna Santos goes over the pledge form with Cherie who has agreed not to smoke in her car or her home in order to eliminate exposure to second-hand smoke to her children. (Bottom row, left and center) Cherie places the "Welcome to Our Smoke Free Zone" sticker on the window of her car to remind others not to smoke in her car. Cherie will also place stickers on the doors of her house. (Bottom row, right) Donna Santos goes over the list of parents who have signed the pledge with Judith Coykendall of Partners for Clean Air. The program will also run at Fall River Head Start. This program is part of a larger effort to reduce tobacco use in Massachusetts..