A grant awarded by the Ohio Hospital Association will help support Selby General Hospital's Tobacco Prevention Program.

Funding for the program has been in flux since a 2008 bill abolished the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation as state officials sought to use money from Ohio's settlement with major tobacco companies for other purposes. A legal fight over the money has now reached the Ohio Supreme Court, which agreed last week to hear an appeal of a ruling by the state's 10th District Court of Appeals that said the state could use the money as it wanted.

Selby was one of 32 small and rural hospitals receiving grants of $20,100 from federal funds through the Ohio Department of Health and State Office of Rural Health. Each of the hospitals is considered a critical access hospital, meaning they are limited service hospitals designated to provide essential services.

The Tobacco Prevention Program provides tobacco cessation classes, anti-tobacco activities at local schools and more.

The program is especially important in this region since the adult tobacco usage rate in Appalachian southeastern Ohio is 31.2 percent, compared to a state average of 25.9 percent, said Jennifer Offenberger, director of marketing and public relations for the Memorial Health System, which includes Selby. The county lung cancer death rate is also higher than the state's, she said.

"Since 2003, we've had over 1,000 people enrolled in the tobacco cessation program. We've had an average quit rate of 61 percent," Offenberger said.

In addition, more than 250 inpatient assessments regarding tobacco issues were made at Selby over the last three years, Offenberger said. That service will be extended to Marietta Memorial Hospital soon as well.

"We're applying frequently for grants to continue that much-needed program," Offenberger said.

Stephanie Davis, director of the program, said one thing the grant funding will do is allow tobacco cessation classes to be offered again at locations other than the hospital. Next month, a four-week class will be offered in New Matamoras, followed by one in the Belpre area.

"We are such a large county, and this eliminates transportation issues," Davis said.

There are no residential restrictions for the programs, which sometimes have people from West Virginia enrolled.

Classes have not been offered at locations away from the hospital in the last six months due to funding issues, Davis said.