Pippin and Moore named Community Health Heroes

The SWAT Program leaders in Gulf and Franklin Counties have been named Community Health Heroes of the year.

The Community Health Hero program was started by the Florida Department of Health to honor those public health professionals who have sought to improve health and quality of life for the people of Florida.

This week it was announced that Gulf and Franklin County’s Tobacco Prevention Coordinators Jessie Pippin and Gina Moore are Community Health Heroes of the year for building strong Students Working Against Tobacco Chapters.

In fact, Franklin tops the most participation in the State.

According to the 2014 Tobacco Youth Survey, about 30 percent of Franklin County’s middle school kids take part in the SWAT program which is about 10 times greater than the state average of about 3 percent.

Gulf County’s SWAT Chapter is nearly 6 times greater at 17%.

And as SWAT participation increases, Gulf and Franklin are seeing their youth tobacco use rates significantly decreasing. 

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