Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Just say Something's weekly podcast. My name is Philip Clark and I am the CEO here at Just say Something.
Before we get into to today's topic, be sure to like, share, comment.
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[00:00:31] Speaker A: Subscribe. That's it. Thank you. Subscribe teamwork for to our podcast. Remember, they're found wherever you find your local podcast.
So thank you, Maureen.
So today we have with us Maureen Gavin. And Maureen is our newest team member to join us. She's been with us since August of last year. And so Maureen has been going into the schools, doing a lot of vaping and tobacco education and awareness in elementary, middle and high schools. So we thought it would be a great time to bring Maureen back and let you, the listener, know what's going on in our schools in Greenville County. We're not going to name which school schools these are, but we will let you know it's Greenville County. But just know it's not limited to just Greenville County. It's happening in your schools as well. So, Maureen, welcome back.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Hi. Hi, Phil.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: And so what?
So you've been in the schools a good bit lately. So tell us some of the things that you've heard and seen that our listeners might need to know.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So a little update. I think when we did the last podcast, we kind of mapped out what the plans were for this year. And we have gone into about four schools in the past month. We hit our first elementary school at the request of the school. So administrators found a group of six year olds, seven of them on the playground vaping. And so we did go in and conduct educational sessions for each class at the elementary school. And kind of what we found out is that a lot of the kids are getting the vapes from people that live in their apartment complexes, uncles, aunts, parents, older cousins.
And something that we're finding is more common is that a lot of children, both in elementary and middle school, are getting the vapes from family members that are willingly giving them the vape. So they might have an uncle that's between the ages of 18 and 25, aunt, same age, giving them the vapes and the kids are getting hooked. Um, some of the students were very emotional that vape and and are using those products. We had a student mention that his father was in the military and had a military injury and now has developed cancer. And he expressed being very upset that both of his parents vape and that he wished at least only one of them vaped because he anticipates that both of his Parents might become sick, ill, and potentially die from cancer. So it's pretty hard to hear.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: Yeah, I could.
Kids in elementary schools, that's crazy.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Yeah, we, we also went into our first middle school and kind of the same story. A lot of the kids mentioned trying their first vape between the ages of 6 and 12, which is very young. And I do have a lot of adults, administrators, parents come up to me and tell me, you know, my kid's not doing it, or at this school, we don't. It's not, it's not that big of a problem.
It is. And the thing that we have to realize is that if one child brings a vape to school, there's endless amounts of students that could yankee use that same product. So when we do go into the high schools, if you walk into the bathroom and I were to say, hey, what's going on in here? I'm going to see a swarm of 10 high schoolers running out of the same stall.
They're pulling out vapes out of the toilets on a daily basis.
And so I think it's just naive for us to think that it's not a problem. And I would definitely love to hear more about what the school district and other organizations are doing to combat the issue.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: So when you say they're pulling them out of the toilet first, who are they and how are they? So the kids are throwing them in the toilet.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Yeah. So the students have really creative places that they hide the vapes. So it could be in the ceiling of the bathroom, it could be in underneath trash cans, it could be behind the toilets. But yeah, the janitor at one of the high schools we go to told us that on a daily basis he has to remove the toilet from the wall to take the vape out of the pipes from the toilet. And this is about a 30 minute procedure. So not only is, you know, the vaping epidemic kind of harming our kids, I feel like it's causing issues for administrative staff and janitorial staff.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: So it definitely affects more than just that individual student.
You know, I have so many questions rolling around in my head, I don't even know where to start.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: I could tell you.
I could tell you. Also, we had a student at an elementary school tell us that his mom hides the vapes in the house and the child finds the vapes.
I, I don't know if he's using them or not, but he also said that his dog will be running around the house with the vape in his mouth, chewing it up.
We hear a lot of crazy stories from. From the students.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: So. Yeah. So I'm sure those of you that have heard our podcast about vaping before, the devices are biohazardous waste. So I can imagine that if the dog is chewing on them, that dog is going to get very, very, very sick if not died.
So the vapes that the kids are using, they come in all shapes and sizes.
Tell our listeners a little bit about what they look like, but also how much nicotine is in them.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: And how that's kind of how kids look at that.
[00:07:31] Speaker B: Yeah. So we don't have a lot of science about the long term effects of vaping use, but what we do know is that nicotine addiction and tobacco and they have long term effects. We have the science behind the cigarettes, so we know that they're going to be harmful. And we can tell based on the marketing strategies of the vape companies in the tobacco industry. They're trying to create a new generation of smokers because a lot of people over the past several decades have either quit smoking cigarettes or never picked up cigarettes. And so they've kind of developed a new product. And yeah, they kind of look like a toy, a game. A lot of them have screens on them. A lot of them look like school supplies. And, and of course, you know, they're flavored like candy, like fruits for an element. Telling an elementary schooler not to use a vape is complicated because to them it's a toy, it looks like a toy, it tastes like candy, and they're not seeing any negative side effects. Even for middle schoolers and high schools, you tell them, hey, this could cause your lungs to collapse. But to them they're not experiencing anything negative at the time. It seems trivial and so they just keep doing it. But we did have a doctor, he primarily works with adolescents and he kind of said he's having a lot more patients come in with vaping related injuries. And so there is an injury they or a acronym for the injuries. It's called evali and it stands for E Cigarette or vaping associated lung injuries. And this could include collapse of lungs. And the doctor actually said one of his patients, probably a 15 year old, around 15, 16 years old, she actually said that both of her lungs collapsed. She was breathing out of a tube. And she said, you know, this is a cool experience.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: And that young girl was here in Greenville.
[00:09:49] Speaker B: In Greenville, yes. Yep.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: I know. So many people think out there, well, that doesn't happen here.
My kid wouldn't do this. You know, when we were real when we hit tobacco real hard, you know, average first age for use was 11 or 12. And so now what you're saying is now faith that they're starting as young as six.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Yeah, And I think that's first grade. Yeah, first grade. It's shocking, and I think it's hard. You go online and you search, you look for statistics. But I think it's an underreported problem. And I would say for me, going into the schools and talking to the students, I'm really able to gauge how the problem is. And I. I do feel like this is a prevalent issue among really, really young kids. It starts at a young age, and with addiction, it's just the trajectory of someone that started vaping at 6 is just really poor.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Right. There is a correlation between vaping and grapes.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: And so that's something to think about. There are also studies that connect vaping with opioid use. And so those of you, well, it's just a vape. Well, it might be today, but that doesn't mean what it'll be tomorrow. And so thank you for that. And we'll be sure to keep our listeners updated as. As Maureen and Stacy go into more and more schools in our community and have conversations with the kids. And that's what we want you to do here for. Just say something. Moms, dad, caregivers, whether it's grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors, whoever, sit down and have these conversations with these kids. And if you don't know how, we have free help that can help give you some tools and strategies to have some of those hard conversations that you're not really comfortable with having.
All right, well, Maureen, thank you and keep up the great work.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: And again, this is Phil Clark with Just say Something's podcast. And thank you for joining us today, and we will see you soon.
