Gail Foreman
Tobacco Reduction Specialist Gail Foreman is part of the Health Promotion team at Primary Care Alberta. We spoke with Gail about her work on tobacco, vaping and cannabis reduction in the Central Zone Public Health team and why she finds it meaningful.
What does your job involve?
Basically, I make sure that everybody understands what their responsibilities are under the current legislation, Section 3 of the Tobacco, Smoking and Vaping Reduction Act. I train public health managers, as well as the Red Deer Regional Hospital lead, and the new medical officers of health residents. I provide a required course to new public health nurses in our zone so they know how to help their clients in ways that are not stigmatizing or judgmental, and so they understand the evidence associated with tobacco, vaping and cannabis use. I also sit on various committees, like the provincial Reproductive Years Working Group, and write resource materials.
Tell us about one of your key projects
I’ve worked with the superintendents of the Wild Rose School Division and Wolf Creek School Division to ensure their policies are updated to fit the current Tobacco, Smoking, and Vaping Reduction Act and Regulation. I’ve reviewed their policies and amended the documents to comply with the legislation. We covered things like workplace health, safe storage and disposal of these products. Now I’m hoping to do this with all the school divisions in the Central Public Health area.
How do your clients in schools respond to your work?
It’s been an extremely positive response. One example is Sonja Dykslag, the assistant superintendent at Wolf Creek School Division. Here’s what she told me about my work updating their administrative procedures and policies: “Her knowledge was valuable because it saved me days of work. Gail helped us identify ways we could create a healthier environment for our kids, and teachers too – she helped build a process for safe disposal of confiscated e-cigarettes and vapes, which are highly toxic, and had been sitting in our teachers’ desk drawers. Honestly, I think we’ve come up with one of the best administrative procedures in the province.”
How does your work help improve Albertans’ health?
It’s about reducing access to these products and de-normalizing their use – and making people aware of the health consequences. Helping people quit is part of a huge World Health Organization plan, as tobacco use is still the biggest killer of people on the planet and it’s a very powerful industry. So anything we can do to stop the flow of tobacco products and other nicotine products, like vapes or pouches, to make them less appealing is helping the general population.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Well, I’ve always been a dyed-in-the-wool activist – I was marching up and down Stephen Avenue Mall with a placard when I was 10, saving the whales. I like to right wrongs if I can. As a kid, I stood up for my friends who were getting bullied at school, and as an adult I often got in trouble with bullies myself, as part of my work. I just don’t like what I see as injustice. And yes, I didn’t know that when they handed me the tobacco file that it would be my life’s work. But it’s turned out to be just that, and I have loved it.
Gail Foreman
