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Taking "Tar Wars" to schools
UB medical residents teach kids about dangers of smoking
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Contributor
Residents in the Department of Family Medicine in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are venturing into local schools to teach children about the dangers of smoking.
Diana Pratt, a second-year medical resident in the Department of Family Medicine, was one of about 10 residents in the department who attended a recent training session on "Tar Wars," an award-winning educational program developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
"We had a really good turnout for the training," Pratt said.
While students in the UB medical school have long helped bring the Tar Wars program to area schools, this is the first time that medical residents have gotten involved, she said, adding that the first resident recently made a presentation in a school.
"It's something the UB medical school has done to give back to the community," Pratt said. "Family Medicine signed on because our residents were looking to get more involved in the community."
Pratt said medical residents are in a unique position to make a difference when it comes to warning children about smoking. Residents are young enough that kids are able to relate to them, but at the same time older than medical students who do not possess as much medical-knowledge experience, she explained.
"We see kids in the office who are dealing with peer pressure," she said. "We see kids who have ear infections and asthma because their parents smoke."
Moreover, residents work with elderly patients who suffer from emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to smoking.
"We see the effects on an entire community because people smoke," she said.
Tar Wars is one element of the "2Smart 2Start" program developed and implemented through Univera Healthcare, said Olivia Belter, manager of community health initiatives at Univera.
"Our partnership with the University at Buffalo's medical students and residents allows the students we engage to hear the program from the perspective of a physician-in-training," Belter said.
More than 116,000 Western New York children have participated in some element of 2Smart 2Start, she added.
As part of the Tar Wars program, students learn about marketing strategies advertisers use to pressure kids into smoking. They explore attitudes toward tobacco and learn methods to resist ads and peer pressure through discussion and activities, said Pratt.
Tar Wars is aimed at students in fifth grade, she said. During the training session, Univera staff trained medical residents to present a 45-minute interactive lecture in front of a class and supplied them with binders stocked with handouts, transparences of tobacco ads and smoking-related statistics.
Statistics tie in with lessons on fractions students learn in fifth-grade math class, said Pratt.
In addition, she said students learn about the effects of smoking on their bodies with an exercise that gets them out of their chairs and involves running in place while breathing through a drinking straw.
"Students get an idea what a person with emphysema or COPD feels like," said Pratt.
She said community involvement is a key element of a family practitioners' job, and the Tar Wars program offers a chance to practice an important skill.
Students and residents in the Department of Family Medicine are training to become "doctors of prevention," said Pratt. "In Family Medicine, one of our primary focuses is on prevention and making sure people follow a healthy lifestyle," she said.