Rockland County, NY - Smoking Survey Starts, High Tobacco Use Among Yiddish-Speaking Men

Rockland County, NY - In the next month, 1,000 Rockland residents will get telephone calls asking them questions to help determine how the county focuses its anti-smoking programs.

The Rockland Health Department is doing its annual survey of tobacco use and attitudes toward smoking. "It helps us see what the trends are," said Shelley Chanler, a public health educator. "It also evaluates the impact of the programs we have in the community."
The department has contracted with a company to call 1,000 Rockland homes. "The data are used in a combination of ways," said a New City public health researcher who will analyze the data for the Health Department. "It helps us evaluate what the results are of the efforts we've already made and tells us what we can do to improve."

Previous surveys also showed higher-than-average tobacco use among Yiddish-speaking men in Rockland.
That information led the Health Department to meet with Jewish community leaders to talk about smoking, they said. "We learned that many men start smoking when they go to Israel to study."
The department is working with Jewish community leaders to try to develop smoking-cessation programs for those residents.
This year's survey also will help the county gauge opinions about tobacco use.