Virginia Tobacco Use Control Project (TUCP) Goals
The Tobacco Use Control Project (TUCP) is a Virginia Department of Health (VDH) project that is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to conduct tobacco use control activities in Virginia. The goal of the funding is to reduce premature death, disease, disability and the economic burden related to tobacco use and/or exposure to second-hand smoke by:
TUCP Provides Funding Around the State
TUCP provides funding to 18 local Health Districts to implement tobacco use control evidence-based strategies in their local communities. This funding is intended to provide health districts with the resources needed to strengthen and develop local coalitions in order to implement, promote or support tobacco use control in communities, and support activities necessary to advance efforts in tobacco use control change.
Evidence-based PES strategies involve making changes that will ban, restrict, or limit access to tobacco use or address point of sale requirements or placement of tobacco. TUCP funds these health districts to promote, support, and implement tobacco use control PES change strategies in local communities. The following Health Districts have been funded to implement evidence-based strategies:
Click here to learn more about specific details of each funded health district.
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Fax Referral Programs to Quit Now Virginia Tobacco User Quitline
Virginia's Fax Referral Program is a resource for clinicians and health providers to use as a resource for clients in providing access to high quality counseling services at no cost with the program clinician providing support and assistance in obtaining prescription medication.
Virginia's Fax Referral Program gives providers a quick and easy method for referring their participants who use tobacco to free to effective cessation services. After identifying a participant's tobacco use status, providers encourage tobacco users who want to quit to complete and sign the fax referral form, giving their consent to receive cessation services from Quit Now Virginia's Quitline.
All 18 funded Health Districts have completed Fax Referral Training and are successfully fax referring patients to Quit Now Virginia.
100% Tobacco Free Health Departments
Each funded Health District is working to implement 100% tobacco free campuses at all health department locations.
Seventy-one (71) out of 137 Health Department work sites are working on 100% tobacco free grounds policies; currently 25 health department worksites have implemented tobacco free grounds.
Mobilizing Community Coalitions towards Environmental Change Strategies
One of TUCP's main focus is on t he critical role coalitions play in a comprehensive tobacco control program. According to Centers for Disease Control's Best Practices, communities need to work toward transforming the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of users and nonusers by changing the way tobacco is promoted, sold, and used.
Through prevention and education strategies, tobacco control coalitions help mobilize communities to develop and implement policies and programs. These efforts shape tobacco-free norms, making tobacco less desirable, less acceptable, and less accessible.
All 18 funded Health Districts are working to create and/or enhance a local coalition in an effort to increase tobacco control efforts at the local level.
Tobacco Free Work Sites and Schools
The funded Health Districts are also working with local businesses and schools to implement 100% tobacco free grounds. With the overwhelming evidence that secondhand smoke is detrimental to a person's overall health and wellness, more work sites are realizing that a tobacco free work environment is a "win/win" for both employer and employee.
Tobacco free workplace policies not only protect workers from the dangers of secondhand smoke, but they result in a more efficient work environment. Health District representatives are educating business owners, school leaders, county officials, etc. about the benefits of implementing a tobacco free work site.