Escaping the South Park Vape with Duwamish Valley Youth Corps

As nursing students at the University of Washington, we spent this Autumn quarter working in South Park with the Duwamish Valley Youth Corps (DVYC). The DVYC is an organization that engages youth—typically between the ages of 12 and 15—in a variety of environmental justice and public health issues. For each topic, DVYC brings in a community specialist to talk with the youth. We were brought in to teach them about preventable lung illness, specifically as it relates to vaping.

In partnership with Carmen Martinez, we chose to focus on how various chemicals found in vape products impact the human body. We planned our approach based on social determinants of health and developed our curriculum to be culturally relevant and age appropriate. Collaboration with local resources was key. We incorporated different theories of healthcare and various methods of learning in an effort to get through to all students. We bought swine lungs, delivered presentations, provided worksheets, and empowered the youth to advocate for themselves.

At the end of the quarter, the youth in the DVYC are given an opportunity to take what they learned and teach it to their peers at the fall forum. Four students tweaked our curriculum and taught community members about the dangers associated with vaping.

Sustainability was really important to us in developing this project, so the last several weeks of the quarter have been spent creating an accessible portfolio of learning materials that future cohorts can utilize and build upon.

Read the full report here!