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New things coming this spring!
There are lots of exciting things happening in the world of e-cigarette and vaping prevention! The CDC has been publishing plenty of new information, the State of Wisconsin has issued an E-Cigarette Public Health Advisory (see full advisory below) and our new Youth Risk Behavior Survey data has given us new insight on numbers of youth using e-cigarettes. We have been sharing this information with our state and local policy makers at Village/Town/City Board and Council meetings. Our main message educates on the importance on reducing youth access to e-cigarettes, and limit their use in public places. We have also been doing many presentations and work in high schools providing education to students and staff. All of us here are CAHL are very excited about the progress being made. If any of this sounds interesting to you, please reach out! We are always looking for people to help within our movement, even if that just means a conversation over coffee talking about our initiatives!
Directors Update
Hello coalition members and CAHL fans!
As many of you know, 2019 has been a year of adjustment for me personally. In the last 3 months I have only begun to process the loss of my mom, a pain so deep and lonely that some days it takes the air right out of me. So many of you have reached out to check on me, even helping with coalition work when I couldn't do it. I can not tell you how much that means to me. I especially want to thank Hannah Wilz, the members of our Board of Directors: Chris Wardlow, Bonnie Kolbe, Sheri Hartzheim, Jack Pautz, Jed Wohlt, Ellen Koski and our Contract Administrator at the State, Tana Feiner. I appreciate all of your extra work and dedication to our organization when I was navigating myself and family through this tragic time. Thank you.


And for the sake of a smile, enjoy this cute picture of my daughter Remi, who is almost 9 months old! She is such a happy and fun baby and I love watching her grow and develop into a little girl! We took her to the Wisconsin Dells this past weekend and she finally got to go swimming with her older brother (Roman, 4) and older sister (Laila, 5) instead of just sit on the sidelines and watch!

One more shout out to Maggie Van Heuklon for all of her work updating the look of our newsletter! Maggie is interning with us from UW-LaCrosse and is soon to graduate with her degree in Community Health/Public Health Education. She has been clutch in our organization during this e-cigarette epidemic. To learn more about Maggie and what she is doing at our organization, please read her update below!

I wish you all the best and I hope to see you soon!

Wendy Vander Zanden
Our New Intern
Hi everyone!
My name is Maggie Van Heuklon and I am the new Preceptor at CAHL. I’m from Oshkosh, Wisconsin where I started volunteering in nursing homes which inspired my passion for improving the health of others and access to health care. Because of this I decided to pursue a degree in Public Health- Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse, where I am currently a senior. This summer I will be a part of AmeriCorps NCCC Traditional Corps Southern Region working out of Vicksburg, Mississippi where I will be working on a variety of service projects. In my free time I enjoy hiking, biking, cooking, and spending time with my family. Traveling is my favorite pastime and in the future I would like to travel to Peru and Thailand. I am looking forward to learning a lot during my time with CAHL and helping to improve the health of communities. So far I have been working on a Tobacco Free School's Policy project to improve local school policies to prohibit e-cigarettes. I have also really enjoyed attending FACT group meetings at local schools and talking to youth about the health risks of smoking and e-cigarettes. I'm so glad that I've gotten the opportunity to go to different trainings and meetings with CAHL staff, this has given me so much great experience. I look forward to keep learning and working here!
National Kick Butts Day
March 20th is national Kick Butts Day! Its a day of activism that empowers youth to stand out, speak up, and seize control against Big Tobacco. They have lots of great ideas for activities on their site. They also offer teens the opportunity to become Youth Advocates, giving them the opportunity to have a more active role in taking down big tobacco.
Tobacco Is Changing Campaign
A new campaign from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services is finding new ways to address the use of tobacco and e-cigarette products in youth. This campaign was created as a direct result of shocking data that showed that the levels of kids who vape has sharply increased in the past year.
A modern approach to getting help
TheTruth.com Launches New Text Program
 Now quitting is as easy as sending a text: the new quit hotline created by Truth Initiative means that teens can get help quickly. The program is called This is Quitting, which can be activated by texting 'QUIT' to the hotline, then activating a series of helpful tools and resources that can be used to help quit smoking and using e-cigarettes. The program is tailored by age group to give teens and young adults appropriate recommendations about quitting. The program will also serve as a resource for parents looking to help their children who now vape.
State E-Cigarette Advisory
"The State Tobacco Prevention and Control Program has released a health advisory from the State Health Officer to inform the public about the alarming statistics on current e-cigarette use among youth in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, current e-cigarette use among Wisconsin high school students increased 154% between 2014 and 2018. In 2014, just under 8% of Wisconsin high school students were using e-cigarettes. In 2018, that number has skyrocketed to 20%."
The advisory contains recommended actions for parents, teachers, health professionals, and community and state leaders. Check out the full advisory here.
Wisconsin Wins Compliance Checks
Beginning this spring we will be starting Wisconsin Wins checks again! This involves going with youth who are sixteen years old or younger to different retailers to investigate whether they sell tobacco products to youth. We are very excited about this opportunity to get more local youth involved in helping to prevent the illegal sale of tobacco. WI Wins uses positive reinforcement to reduce illegal tobacco sales to minors. It congratulates local clerks who do not sell tobacco to youth, while educating those who would. The counties that CAHL does Wisconsin Wins checks in are: Brown, Calumet, Langlade, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, and Waupaca. If you know any youth that would like to be a part of this, please contact us! You can also learn more about Wisconsin Wins here .