A statewide smoking education program is hitting four more Northwest Missouri counties.

A $50,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services will be implemented through Northwest Missouri State University. The four counties included are Atchison, Nodaway, Gentry and Harrison.

Judy Frueh, a registered nurse, was assigned as project coordinator for the program, which is called “Project Smokebusters.” Ten schools in the four counties will each assign one student to educate themselves and others on the dangers of smoking.

Graduate assistants at Northwest will help train the students, who will be selected from grades eight through 10. The students will then educate other students and adults at their school, and coordinate a community education program.

Statistically, more smokers live in the Midwest, and Missouri ranks high on the list. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of the 50 states, only Kentucky, Oklahoma and West Virginia have higher percentages of smokers.

While about 19 percent of the country uses tobacco, a whopping 40 percent of Taney County (home to Branson, Mo.) smokes, which makes it the smokiest county in the state, according to the Missouri Foundation for Health. The county with the lowest percentage is Nodaway at 13.9 percent.

Also, according to the same study, low-income people are more likely to smoke; 40 percent of adults without insurance smoke; nearly 40 percent of adults earning $15,000 or less per year are smokers, while only 14 percent of people making $75,000 or more smoke.

The full survey results can be found on the Internet at www. dhss.mo.gov./CommunityDataProfiles.

The $50,000 grant is part of $1.5 million that is targeted for the state through May 2009. Ms. Frueh said she hopes the program is extended because a second and third phase of the program involves changing policy, which could lead to more smoking bans in Northwest Missouri (Maryville banned smoking in restaurants in 2005).

“I like my one-on-one with patients,” she said of her job as a nurse, “but I do think I can make a bigger impact when I reach a lot more people. This is a great way to do it.”

Jimmy Myers can be reached

at jimmym@npgco.com.