By Allen Howard
The Cincinnati Enquirer

About 1,000 pregnant women in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Brown counties will be involved in a one-year program to help them quit smoking and decrease smoke exposure to infants.

The program is made possible by a $334,000 grant received by Every Child Succeeds (ECS), a counseling program for at-risk, first-time mothers and their children.

The grant came from the Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation.

"We expect to launch the program in about a month,'' said Judith Van Ginkel, ECS president. "We also want to create a smoke-free environment for the babies. If people don't stop smoking, we want them to at least smoke where there are no babies."

Mrs. Van Ginkel said if the program is successful, ECS can apply for an additional two years of funding.

ECS contracts with community-based agencies to provide home visitation services from professional family-support workers.

"Research demonstrates that home visitation reduces maternal tobacco use," Mrs. Van Ginkel said. "ECS will coordinate training of all home visitors, provide training to day-care providers, coordinate home visits for intensive smoking counseling and prevention, and provide incentives for smoking mothers to reduce tobacco use."

ECS will serve as lead agency under the grant for the Assuring Smoke-free Homes (ASH) program.

Mrs. Van Ginkel said the program will include a counseling program for pregnant women, and the "Make Yours a Fresh Start Family" program for new mothers.

The Ohio Tobacco Use Prevention and Control Foundation awarded 28 grants totaling $7 million for prevention and cessation programs throughout the state

For more information, call 636-2830.

E-mail ahoward@enquirer.com