Senate Bill Will Help Save Lives

Senate bill will help save lives
Jay Taylor, Durbin Jan 4, 2017 Bismarck Tribune
The most successful tobacco prevention program North Dakota has ever had is under fire. BreatheND’s budget is at risk during this legislative session and we must stand up for it.
Why? Because this program saves lives. Because I lost my own father to smoking. And because my 45 years working as a respiratory therapist tell me many of your readers have also lost a loved one or seen them suffer from tobacco-related health conditions.
I was passionate about my career in healthcare, but the more I worked to help patients recover the more I felt compelled to stop the thing that made so many of them sick in the first place.
Losing my 56-year-old dad to tobacco really put it all into perspective. We need a strong force in North Dakota to prevent tragedies like the one my family faced. If we do that, we all win. We can spare children the heartache of losing a parent, a sibling, or a friend.
BreatheND has proven it knows what it’s doing and does it well. The high school smoking rate has been cut in half since the program began seven years ago. Fewer adults smoke, too. BreatheND even got North Dakota highlighted in the Surgeon General’s 2016 report as a program to follow.
The country’s leading health professionals recognize how important tobacco prevention is. We need our legislators to do the same.
Support Senate Bill 2024 to fully fund BreatheND and save lives.