November 9, 2021

Mobile City Council honors S.W.A.T. program

MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile City Council today presented a proclamation to the Mobile County Health Department’s S.W.A.T. (Students Working Against Tobacco) program. This was in observance of November being National Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

S.W.A.T. students are recruited by a school sponsor to serve as peer tobacco prevention educators in elementary and middle schools, with a focus on students in fourth through eighth grade. It is part of MCHD’s Community Prevention Programs department under the Prevention & Wellness directorate.

Gina Gregory, Vice President of the Council, presented the proclamation to Harold Jones, MCHD’s Youth Tobacco Coordinator, and to S.W.A.T. members Azaria Hudson, Undrea Jones, and Amber Patrick from Mary G. Montgomery High School in Semmes and to Blakeney Horne, Kacey Rogers, and Micah Lee from Alma Bryant High School in Irvington.

Lee spoke to the Council members about the importance of the S.W.A.T. program. After she finished, Council President C.J. Small congratulated the students on their efforts and requested that they come shake the hands of the Council members and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson.

Also present at the event were Dr. Stephanie Woods-Crawford, Executive Director of Prevention & Wellness; Pebbles King, who oversees the Bureau of Community and Nutrition Services; and Tiki Rodgers, the school sponsor for Mary G. Montgomery High School.

“First off, I would like to thank Mobile City Council for letting us join everyone here today and would like to say that we are honored to be a part of an organization like S.W.A.T. which helps to educate elementary and middle school students on the dangers of tobacco use via peer pressure,” Jones said.

“When you consider that nearly half a million people die each year from tobacco use and understand that 20 percent of all high school students use e-cigarettes, it is clear that all of us have a lot of work to do. On behalf of all the members of the S.W.A.T. program, we are deeply appreciative of the support shown for our program by the Mobile City Council.”

For more information about the S.W.A.T. program, contact Jones at 251-544-2064 or at hjones@mchd.org.