Fun, Information Fill Annual QuitLinks Carnival
 The carnival at Western Gateway Heritage State Park drew hundreds on Saturday. |
Jennifer Civello, coordinator of Reach's Tobacco Treatment Program, said the first year the carnival was a lot of work. Now in its third year, however, "we just pray for sunshine."
Brianna Howland, 8, of Clarksburg, learned about the carnival from a flier passed out at school. She had been waiting for carnival day to come for weeks.
"I was excited about coming to the carnival with my mom," Brianna said. "I was hoping they had cotton candy and snow cones like they did last year."
The QuitLinks program also provided healthy snacks for children including apples, bananas, bottles of water and cereal bars as well as pre-packaged cotton candy and snow cones.
"There is a bunch of planning that goes into organizing this event each year," said Civello. "We have new organizations joining us every year and they help make the event a success by providing valuable information to the community."
QuitLinks is part of the Tobacco Treatment Program sponsored by Reach Community Health Foundation and Boston Medical Center's HealthNet Plan. Funded by a grant through the state Department of Public Health, QuitLinks is a free tobacco treatment program developed with the interests of pregnant women and moms in mind. It offers individual counseling to help mothers and moms-to-be quit smoking while offering support to other family members to create a supportive environment for the mother.
"The focus of the carnival is kid-friendly fun," said Sharon Leary, Reach's outreach and communications coordinator. "However, on a more serious note, the number of pregnant women and moms-to-be who smoke in Berkshire County is higher than the state average, so we feel that we need to address this problem."
Some 14 percent of births in Western Mass. are to mothers who smoked, according to 2007 data compiled by the state's Department of Public Health. In Berkshire County, the most recent data indicates nearly 40 percent of new moms in North Adams smoke, more than four times the statewide average.
The fair provides a platform for outlining the dangers of smoking for all ages and for encouraging young families to kick the habit for the health of their children.The kids, meanwhile, enjoyed dunking Paul Hopkins, director of community relations for Northern Berkshire Healthcare, who occupied the dunking booth for the third year in a row, face painting, a magic show and balloon animals provided by Bowie the Clown, Trevor the Game Man was on hand to provide children with entertainment and a "tot train" provided children with rides around the state park.
Members of the North Adams SteeplesCats assisted with the dunking booth and handed out balloons to children. A.J. Bona braved the heat inside HealthNet's sun costume and had his picture taken with children throughout the day.
"We asked all organizations that are here today to bring a game for children as well as some resources about the community that would be useful to the families that attended," Leary said.
Allison Graczykowski, community outreach leader for HealthNet in Western Mass., talked to people as they walked into the carnival about health insurance options and gave them information about the state's MassHealth and Commonwealth Care health insurance plans.
Uninsured people needing assistance with enrollment into these programs were given income guidelines and directed to Ecu-Health Care, which is located in the doctor's building at North Adams Regional Hospital, for further assistance.
Some of the organizations participating in the carnival were the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, Berkshire County Head Start, Child Care of the Berkshires, United Cerebral Palsy, Berkshire Areaa Health Education Center, St. Stanislaus' School, Northern Berkshire YMCA, and radio station WUPE 95.5, which gave away two keys in its summer house giveaway.
Jiudmyla Polotai, of Ukraine, attended the event with her two young children and mother-in-law. She was the lucky winner of one key.
"Our family currently lives on Cole Avenue in Williamstown," Polotai said. "We have been working very hard to save money to buy a house but winning a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house would be perfect."
For more information about QuitLinks or any of the other supporting agencies, call Civello at 413-664-5567 or Leary at 413-664-5404.
