SMOKE AND MIRRORS -panel presentation on vaping and e-cigarettes

Westborough Community hosts special informational event about vaping and e-cigarettes and their effects:

“Smoke and Mirrors, A Square One Panel Presentation on Vaping and E-Cigarettes.” A panel presentation with small group discussion and question and answer session with Mr. Jason Verhoosky and Dr. Safdar Medina.

FREE program, open to all, including teens! Thursday, October 03, 2019, at Mill Pond School cafeteria (6 Old Hickory Path, Westborough) from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Westborough, MA, August 28, 2019: Westborough Youth & Family Services, Rotary Club of Westborough, Westborough Public Schools, and Westborough Connects are pleased to co-sponsor this third in a series of informational community meetings, to shed light on the reality of vaping and e-cigarettes. In light of startling increases in the number of adolescents using vaping/e-cigarette products, these community groups are responding to public sentiment about the urgency of addressing the issue through awareness and education. This program aims to reach adolescents, their parents and adults who care about them, as well as educators and professionals in social services, behavior health and medicine. Local community members have voiced a desire for more knowledge about what e-cigarettes look like, where and how they are obtained, what physical and psychological effects they have and how addictive they are. Panelists will address these issues, as well as options for helping adolescents who are already using these products. Rotary Club of Westborough has graciously funded this panel presentation, which seeks to provide answers that the community is looking for.

The panel includes Mr. Jason Verhoosky, director of Wayland Youth and Family Services. Jason has worked in the field of youth development since 2001 and has focused on substance abuse prevention since 2008. Jason has worked as a regional and national trainer for The Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, The Office of National Drug Control Policy and The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration.

The panel will also include pediatrician Dr. Safdar Medina of UMass Memorial Medical Group. Dr. Medina is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and a Pediatrician at Tri River Family Heath Center in Uxbridge. Dr. Medina is also the Northborough/Southborough school district physician. He is the father of two teenagers and has a special interest in adolescent mental health and substance use.

Free childcare (children must be potty-trained) offered for participants who request it on pre-registration. Language interpretation will be provided upon request with pre-registration.

For more information and to register, please go to: www.westboroughconnects.com/programs.

Media contact: Julia O’Neil Welch joneil-welch@town.westborough.ma.us