Author Tags: Cookbook Education Health Kidlit & Young Adult


Articles: 2 Articles for this author

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Baby and Me - Tobacco Free - Quitting Smoking Before a Child Comes Into Your Life.

Authored by Laurie Adams (USA) and Pamela McColl (Cdn) Grafton and Scratch Publishers 604-563-0055 www.graftonandscratch.com graftonandscratch@gmail.com

97% of people who use tobacco products, say they would like to find a way to stop. 70% of women continue to smoke while pregnant in spite of wanting to parent tobacco-free. Pregnancy positively impacts quitting success rates, however upwards of 90% of women who quit during a pregnancy return to tobacco products within the first year postpartum.
Baby and Me - Tobacco Free is a collaboration between two tobacco prevention advocates. Laurie Adams is the founding director of the evidence based and successful Baby and Me - Tobacco Free Program (www.BabyAndMeTobaccoFree.com.). The program originated in Jamestown New York in 2002 and is offered nationally across the United States as a brief tobacco intervention strategy. Laurie Adams is joined by Pamela McColl, author and publisher. Pamela generated international media buzz with the release of the controversial 2012 smoke-free edition the classic - Twas The Night Before Christmas. (www.twasthenightbeforechristmas.ca twitter@twas4kids). ( ISBN 978-0-9879023-0-6 in english, Spanish, French, hardcover,paperback, ebooks,interactive enhanced read long ibooks, soft toys )
The book quickly rose to the #1 bestseller on Amazon.com (category of American 20thc. poetry) and the edition has gone on to win six book awards, including four Benjamin Franklin Book Awards, in spite of being referred to by the American Library Association as a product of literary vandalism. The A.L.A. took exception to Santa Claus editing out the reference to the pipe and wreath of smoke around his head, in spite of the poem having been radically adapted countless times since its first publication in 1822.
McColl's aim as the publisher, of both these publications, is to stimulate a call for more to be done to effectively push back the tobacco epidemic. The World Health Organizations estimates that 1 billion individuals will a premature death in this century, which is a tenfold increase from the past century, from a tobacco related disease. With Baby and Me - Tobacco Free she turns her attention to helping those that have been caught up in tobacco to find their way to quitting and in doing so best protect their own health and the wellbeing of a new baby and her family.
Baby and Me - Tobacco Free offers the reader a compassionate approach to quitting the use of tobacco products. It is unlike many other books on this topic as it challenges well entrenched beliefs on quitting such as the idea that it is necessarily "hard"; to quit or that smoking has anything to do with weight management. The book takes a tough approach with the tobacco industry and criticizes their ways and practices in recruiting and keeping their customers. The book invites the reader place a level of blame outside of themselves and with the industry that in all likelihood attracted them when they were still in their youth.
Available in bookstores worldwide with North American marketing and publicity.
Distributed in the USA by Bookmasters and by Quanda in Canada
ISBN 978-0-98812-164-5 Paperback $12.95 USD/$14.95 CDN
Ebook and Epub ISBN 978-0-9881216-5-2 & ISBN 978-09881216-6-9 $2.99 USD/$3.49 CDN
Also available through Ingram/Baker&Taylor and online retailers.
Praise
"Innovative approaches such as Baby and Me-Tobacco Free" are for the first time making it possible for us to reduce maternal smoking rates. The potential beneficial impact on society is enormous.";
-John R. Laird, MD, FACP, FACC, FSCAI Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Vascular Center, University of California, Davis Medical Center.
Laurie Adams
Founder, Executive Director, and National Program Director of the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program, Laurie is a certified cessation counselor, has worked with the New York State Tobacco Control Program since 1999, and has facilitated smoking cessation programs across the United States. She is certified and has provided energetic wellness education programs to health insurance companies and wellness agencies for nearly two decades. She is also a frequent keynote speaker at national conferences, tobacco control presentations, healthcare seminars, and women's events.

Before Laurie Adams' passion for helping pregnant women quit smoking inspired her to create a nationally-renowned tobacco cessation program in 2002, she vividly remembers her firsthand experience with compromised babies: "These precious little ones struggled with being underweight and born too early with underdeveloped lungs, irregular breathing and heartbeat issues, poor muscle and skeletal development, anemia, and much more. We know that women who do not smoke during pregnancy are 10 times more likely to have a healthy, full-term baby, and this is why we founded the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program.";

More than 10 years later, her statistically-proven program boasts effectiveness quit rates and a track record that includes publication in the Maternal and Child Health Journal (2011) of a three year research analysis from 2006-2010 by the State NY State Department of Health's Tobacco Control Program and was awarded the "Model Practice Award"; in 2005 by the National Association of City and County Health Officials. Grant funding support has been provided by the Rocky Mountain Health Plan in Colorado, and the program is currently available in five U.S. states (Colorado, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, and Oregon), with additional state locations in the final stages of approval. Healthy Mom - Healthy Baby's Program Director, Michele Brooks states, "We desperately need a program like this in the Buffalo region. We have a statistically high rate of smoking in our pregnant population and the opportunity to partner with the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free program is a blessing to our moms and our community. Smoking is a known cause of preterm and underweight babies. We can save lives and dollars with this program.";

The Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program faces an uphill battle as states and municipalities reduce their budgets for smoking cessation programs, while Big Tobacco continues to pour billions into aggressive marketing campaigns, many of which target lower-income consumers.

The Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program is responding with a breakthrough plan that will introduce the program to millions of potential beneficiaries: the national launch of the first book based on top forty questions asked and answered from the program. McColl, who met Adams at a national smoking cessation conference in New Orleans, is excited about the opportunity to share the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program with a larger audience.

Despite the obvious return-on-investment, however, states across the U.S. are only allocating tiny percentages of their budgets to tobacco cessation, and are even reducing funds. "The research is clear: hospitalization and other medical costs associated with smoking mothers can run 14 times higher than those for non-smokers,"; points out Dr. Anne Gadomski, MD., Senior Research Scientist/Attending Pediatrician, Bassett Medical Center (Cooperstown, NY) and Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Albany Medical College (Albany, NY). "We researched the program and proved it helped pregnant women quit smoking and stay quit. Dollars used for a proven cessation program save lives, save dollars and greatly impacts the health of a new mom and baby. It is a shame to see dollars that were designated in the settlement with Big Tobacco not being invested in initiatives such as the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Tobacco Program.";

Adams is understandably excited about the book launch. "Families, mothers, babies, future generations, and communities all benefit when mothers quit smoking and stay quit. Publishing this book will give the Baby & Me - Tobacco Free Program new opportunities to help mothers who want the best for themselves and their babies. "We are proud of the many agencies and organizations across the nation who have committed dollars to the program and see the benefit of helping pregnant women quit smoking.";


Pamela McColl

"She wants to shake up complacency over tobacco addiction."; Associated Press
"Anti-smoking crusader Pamela McColl."; - The Los Angeles Times
"McColl's commitment to non-smoking is a legitimate goal in materials intended for children."; Kirkus Reviews
"It cannot fairly be said that the edition represents an act of "literary vandalism";. On the contrary, the edition is a socially responsible alternative, lauded by health professionals."; Stephen E. Gillen LLP Wood Heron&Evans 513-241-2324
"She's is what builds a country."; Allan Fotheringham Macleans Magazine - Telling a great Canadian fish tale.
"I know of only one or two Canadians in our field who have been willing to take personal risks in order to reduce tobacco morbidity and mortality. She deserves praise for creating real discussions about "Twas The Night"; with millions around the world. Santa is modeling a behavior that kills a whopping one out or two of its long term users is problematic.... She is merely trying to give parents who want the option of a smoke-free Santa."; Garfield Mahood - Member of the Order of Canada.
Media Appearances and Interviews
Pamela is an excellent speaker on behalf of promoting a tobacco product free world and she has been called upon and featured on international public discussions and media TV. and radio appearances including:
Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, New York Post, Associated Press, Jim Bohannon Show (syndicated nationwide), The Toronto Star, L.A. Times, Vanity Fair, The National Post (cover feature), Maclean's Magazine, CBC Radio and Canada AM-TV and CTV News, The Guardian, Media commentary: The Colbert Report, The View, Kelly and Michael, Huffington Post, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, The BBC. Google trending top ten news stories September 19th 2012 - Santa Stops Smoking.
Pamela McColl's related experience to Baby and Me Tobacco Free: Labour Support Doula Douglas College New Westminster BC 1991, Prenatal Yoga Instructor training Motherwell USA.
Her diverse background includes previous experience with Canadian Mental Health, as a health care worker. Her early career was spent in the field of theatre and film design and she attended the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Quebec. She also worked at the Stratford Festival in Ontario and regional theatres in her native Vancouver, B.C. Canada. The Vancouverite earned a BA in History/Sociology attended Queen's University, The University of Manitoba, and did postgraduate work in Theatre History at the University of Victoria, she returned to study in the faculty of Women's Studies at the University of British Columbia and holds certification in Peer Counseling. Publisher Grafton and Scratch Publishers - publishers of nine books, including Pacific Spirit: The Forest Reborn, which United States Senator Frank Murkowski, the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, labeled as "one of the most important works on forest management"; in recent years. Grafton and Scratch Publishing is a member of the IBPA - The Independent Book Publishers Association of America.
Pamela is involvement with Smoke-Free Movies for Western Canada - a campaign to better protect young audiences from the heavy influence of smoking on screen. Reference Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada Tobacco Vector: http://www.smoke-free.ca/pdf_1/2010/Tobaccovector.pdf
When she was 18 she rescued her father from their home, which was engulfed in flames as a result of her father falling asleep in bed with a cigarette. She took up smoking in her early teens, but later quit when she was pregnant with twins who are now 25 years of age and do not smoke. She received certification in Brief Tobacco Intervention for Maternity through the University of Arizona.
Grafton and Scratch Publishers 604 563-0055 Vancouver, BC Canada. Book distribution Bookmaster Ashland Ohio and Quanda Toronto Canada also Baker&Taylor and Ingram.
Tour Dates
Sacramento California September 18-19 Book Launch 2013
Seattle Washington TBD Indiana - TBD September/Oct 2013
Williamsburg Virginia - Oct 9th - 13th 2013

Atlanta GA - Nov 22nd - Nov 30th. 2013
Washington Break Free Alliance April 28-29- 2014
New York Book Expo May 2014

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Twas The Night Before Christmas edited by Santa Claus for the benefit of children of the 21st century won six awards this year, 4 Benjamin Franklin Awards including a gold medal for best cover - children's picture book, three silver medals - best interior, best children's book, ebook, Gold medal Moonbeam Children's Book Awards best holiday book, and a gold medal at the Global International Ebook Awards. It also was a #1 bestseller on Amazon.com for 20th century American Poetry and one if not the only Canadian books spoofed on The Colbert Report. It has been capturing the interest of international media from The View to the New York Post. All pretty good for a Vancouver one person publishing company.