WOONSOCKET, R.I., March 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS Health (NYSE:
CVS), the nation's largest pharmacy innovation company, today
announced it will fund $10 million in
new and expanded partnerships and programs to launch the second
year of Be The First, the company's five year, $50 million commitment to help deliver the
nation's first tobacco-free generation. The partnerships and
programs will roll out throughout 2017 and build upon the success
of the first year in the areas of anti-smoking education,
tobacco-control advocacy, and healthy behavior programming.
"Tobacco continues to be the leading cause of preventable
disease and death in the United
States, yet 2,100 youth and young adults still become daily
cigarette smokers," said Troyen Brennan, M.D., M.P.H., and Chief
Medical Officer for CVS Health. "CVS Health recognizes that by
bringing together experts in the public health community and
aggressively implementing strategies to reduce tobacco use, we have
the opportunity to deliver the first tobacco-free generation."
Be The First was introduced in March 2016 and is directed at youth and young
adults who currently smoke or are at risk of becoming regular
tobacco users; the country's 3 million elementary school children
who, without early tobacco education, may become future tobacco
users; and adult smokers who expose children to tobacco use. Since
launching the initiative, CVS Health has reached nearly 5 million
young people with anti-smoking programming and has helped 20
colleges and universities pursue 100% smoke-and tobacco-free campus
policies.
"In the year since we introduced Be The First, we've seen
very good progress, but we know there is much more to be done in
schools, on college campuses and in our communities," said
Eileen Howard Boone, president of
the CVS Health Foundation. "We're pleased to sustain this momentum
by expanding partnerships with best-in-class organizations and
identifying new partners that will bring the expertise needed to
move us one step closer to the first tobacco-free generation."
Helping Our Kids "Kick Butts"
As part of the CVS Health Foundation's five year, $5 million commitment to support the efforts of
the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the CVS Health Foundation is
funding a new online training program with courses to train youth
and adults to become tobacco prevention ambassadors. These courses
are focused on how tobacco affects youth, including the growing
availability of candy-flavored e-cigarettes and cigars, and ways
for people to advocate for tobacco-free communities. The
announcement of this new resource coincides this week with Kick
Butts Day on March 15, the Campaign
for Tobacco Free Kids' national day of activism that empowers youth
to stand out, speak up and mobilize their communities in fighting
tobacco use.
"CVS Health has shown tremendous leadership in helping people
lead tobacco-free lives by bringing the public health and private
sector communities together to work on this public health crisis,"
said Matthew L. Myers, president, Campaign for Tobacco-Free
Kids and member of CVS Health's Be The First national
advisory council. "We look forward to continuing to work with CVS
Health to improve the lives of America's children and young adults
and win the fight against tobacco for good."
Promoting Tobacco-Free College Campuses
As part of Be The First, CVS Health set actionable and
measurable goals, including a doubling of the number of
tobacco-free educational institutions in the United States. In 2017, the CVS Health
Foundation and American Cancer Society will continue to help
accelerate the number of colleges and universities that advocate
for, adopt and implement a 100% smoke- and tobacco-free campus
policy by supporting more than 50 new schools in their tobacco
control efforts. Interested schools can apply online at
www.cancer.org/tfgci.
This spring, the CVS Health Foundation and Truth Initiative, the
national public health organization that
leads truth, the nation's largest youth tobacco
prevention campaign, will announce an expanded partnership to help
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and community colleges
across the country adopt 100% tobacco-free policies. This effort is
especially relevant because African-American and low-income
communities have been the target of tobacco industry
marketing for decades.
Raising Awareness Across Communities
To increase awareness and advocacy in the communities it serves,
CVS Health and the American Lung Association's LUNG FORCE are
teaming up in the fight against tobacco to win the battle against
lung cancer. The campaign, which will launch in May, will give
customers an easy way to spread tobacco-free messaging in their
communities and take advantage of tobacco-free resources for their
towns, schools and public areas.
Delivering Smoking Cessation Services to Cancer
Patients
CVS Health is also continuing its focus on supporting
community-based cessation programs for adult smokers, who cause
damage to their own health, as well as expose children to tobacco
use and secondhand smoke. Later this year, Later this year, the CVS
Health Foundation, through a partnership with the National Cancer
Institute, will invest nearly $1
million to address smoking cessation in the oncology setting
across several of the nation's leading cancer hospitals.
Be The First is funded through CVS Health and the CVS
Health Foundation, and comprises comprehensive anti-smoking
education, tobacco control advocacy and healthy behavior
programming in partnership with organizations uniquely positioned
to tackle this public health challenge. For more program
information, visit www.cvshealth.com/bethefirst.
About CVS Health
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is a pharmacy innovation company helping
people on their path to better health. Through its more than 9,700
retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a
leading pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 90 million plan
members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more
than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy
services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription
drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities
to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique
integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better
health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more
information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at
https://www.cvshealth.com.
About the CVS Health Foundation
The CVS Health Foundation is a private charitable organization
created by CVS Health that works to build healthier communities,
enabling people of all ages to lead healthy, productive lives. The
Foundation provides strategic investments to nonprofit partners
throughout the U.S. who help increase community-based access to
health care for underserved populations, create innovative
approaches to chronic disease management and provide tobacco
cessation and youth prevention programming. We also invest in
scholarship programs that open the pathways to careers in pharmacy
to support the academic aspirations of the best and brightest
talent in the industry. Our philanthropy also extends to supporting
our colleagues' spirit of volunteerism through Volunteer Challenge
grants to nonprofits where they donate their time and fundraising
efforts. To learn more about the CVS Health Foundation and its
giving, visit www.cvshealth.com/social-responsibility.
Media Contact: Mary Alfieri,
mary.alfieri@cvscaremark.com, 401-770-9811
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SOURCE CVS Health