Join us on May 8th for the Lamoille Valley Vape Awareness Town Hall.The event will take place from 7:00-8:00 pm in the Community Education Center at GMTCC. The evening is co-sponsored by Lamoille North Supervisory Union and Healthy Lamoille Valley. All community members from across the Lamoille Valley are welcome to attend as this issue crosses school district boundaries.

Food and beverages will be provided and childcare is available to those who need that support to attend. Please register if you’d like to eat with us or if you’ll need to utilize our childcare offering.The deadline to register is Wednesday, May 3rd.

Register here

Guests will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to win one of ten (10) $15 gift cards to Two Sons Bakehouse. These drawings are made possible by Healthy Lamoille Valley. You must enter your name on site May 8th to be eligible for the drawings.

This Town Hall is an opportunity to hear from substance prevention professionals from Healthy Lamoille Valley and school leaders from Lamoille North. The event on May 8th is a chance to learn about the rise of vaping, its health impacts, the ways in which Lamoille North is preventing its use within our student body, and what we can all do to make our communities as safe and healthy as possible.

According to the FDA, in 2022, one in ten, or more than 2.5 million US middle and high school students used e-cigarettes including vapes and vape pens. Furthermore, VT Department of Health data highlights that as of 2019, 26% of Vermont high school students said they used e-cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days.

As quoted in a recent VT Digger article, University of Vermont Children’s Hospital Pulmonologist L.E. Faricy said this growing trend is one to watch out for, “All across the state, the stories are really similar. We are seeing a lot of youth use, and a lot of youth nicotine dependence, and a lot of difficulty in quitting.”

Education is critical in curtailing e-cigarette use in our youth. The impacts of vaping and e-cigarettes — physical, psychological, economic, and more- are why the partnership between Lamoille North and Healthy Lamoille Valley is so important.

The significant impacts of vaping, e-cigarettes, and tobacco use are why the Town Hall slated for May 8th is an important opportunity to talk about vaping and to ask questions of the experts in the room.