The Washington County Tobacco Prevention Program has received a grant that will keep operations going through Sept. 25, but after that the future is still uncertain.

The program, which has helped more than 1,000 area residents stop using tobacco and served more than 10,000 youth through prevention programs, was scheduled to end Tuesday due to funding shifts.

Now, a Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant (FLEX) grant from the Ohio Department of Health will keep full services going for three more months while employees apply for additional funding.

"We have (smoking cessation) classes scheduled, we'll be able to provide materials at no cost, we're moving ahead," said director Stephanie Davis. "For now, we're keeping our jobs and more importantly we'll be able to provide services to the community."

The program had been surviving, on a limited basis, on an American Legacy Foundation grant since a bill passed in the state last year abolished the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation. The foundation's $270 million endowment was mostly diverted to an economic stimulus package with $40 million given to the Ohio Department of Health to oversee tobacco prevention programs.

The $270 million came from Ohio's settlement with major tobacco companies and provided funding to prevention programs across the state, including more than half of the $190,000 budget for Washington County's program, based at Selby General Hospital.

Davis said services are needed now more than ever, following an April rise in the federal tobacco tax from 39 cents to $1.01 per pack, spurring more people to try to quit.

"We've definitely seen an increase-we've been bombarded," she said. "We've had 75 to 100 individuals in the last month or two and I think we're going to see more making the decision to quit."

Most of those people will need the help of a cessation program, Davis said.

"If it was easy to do, everyone would just do it on their own," she said. "It's so highly addictive. People need help and we have to have a program in place."

Along with helping smokers quit, the program aides people using all other forms of tobacco as well.

"In our area it's really staggering the number of people who use smokeless tobacco," Davis said. "They believe it to be safer but it can have three times the nicotine as a pack of cigarettes."

The program's three remaining employees, down from five, are awaiting passage of the state budget, like many other agencies.

Funds from the Ohio Department of Health have been requested but until the budget passes it's unknown if the department will have the money available. The program has also applied for funding from other sources, said Davis.

Jennifer Offenberger, marketing director for the Memorial Health System, which includes Selby, has said if the existing program ends there are likely to be some cessation services reinstated at Marietta Memorial Hospital.