Clothesline Project remains a visual display of tobacco-related deaths in Lenawee County

ADRIAN — A stark reminder of the health effects of tobacco usage has been on display outside the Lenawee County Human Services Building in Adrian since May 30.

A clothesline that contains nearly 150 shirts will remain on display outside the human services building, 1040 S. Winter St., almost through the end of this week. The 147 shirts in total on the clothesline are symbolic of each tobacco-related death in Lenawee County last year.

As it is referred to, the Clothesline Project is an annual partnership dating back more than 10 years between the Lenawee County Health Department and the Lenawee YOUTH Council, part of the Lenawee Community Foundation.

Teens who are involved with the YOUTH council hung the shirts on the clothesline May 30 in recognition of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) World No Tobacco Day on May 31. Members of the World Health Organization created World No Tobacco Day in 1987 to draw global attention to the tobacco epidemic and the preventable death and disease it causes.

Tobacco usage is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability and death in Michigan, contributing to the deaths of more than six million people globally each year, the Lenawee County Health Department said in a news release.

In Lenawee County, smoking causes more deaths than AIDS, alcohol, automobile crashes, drugs, opioids, murders and suicides combined, the health department said.

“This initiative aims to raise awareness and encourage the community to join us in the fight against tobacco use,” the health department said..

The partnership between the health department and the YOUTH Council strives to address the community foundation’s goal of providing “health, happiness and hope” for Lenawee County, Paula Trentman, vice president and director of grants and programs for the Lenawee Community Foundation said.

“(Tobacco) usage is a health issue and we want Lenawee County to be the best community it can be,” she said.

The Clothesline Project has a two-fold mission, Trentman, who has been involved with nearly each year of the Clothesline Project, said. It aims to be a reminder of the health effects related to tobacco use, and it also strives to prohibit people from getting involved with tobacco in the first place. Am emphasis of the project is discouraging young people from using tobacco. Vaping is another concern, Trentman added.

“Our hope is that it will let people know not to start (using tobacco),” she said. “Our youth find this project to be quite impactful.

“We’re trying to do whatever we can to make our community as healthy as it can be.”

The Clothesline Project also involves the county’s Tobacco Reduction Coalition.

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The Lenawee YOUTH Council is among the youth leadership campaigns in effect at the Lenawee Community Foundation. Projects for youth leadership consist of helping people, taking care of the community, making new friends, collecting community service hours, being a role model and working together for a common cause.

To learn more, contact the Lenawee Community Foundation by calling 517-263-4696 or visiting lenaweecommunityfoundation.com.

For more information about the Lenawee County Health Department visit LenaweeHealthDepartment.org or call 517-264-5253.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at [email protected] or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Clothesline Project represents tobacco-related deaths in Lenawee County