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Since 2015, a team of community partners has cut the rate of adults who smoke from 24% to 16.5%. Four major tobacco policies have passed locally, including tobacco-free parks and smoke-free events. Illegal tobacco sales to youth dropped a remarkable 86%, from 35% in 2018 to just 5% in 2024.
A lot of that progress has a caped crusader behind it.
Glenn Gailis, MD, is a retired Sky Lakes family medicine physician waging a very personal war on tobacco. He also has a “friend,” Batman, who dons cape and mask, picks up cigarette butts downtown, and starts conversations with anyone willing. Batman has personally collected more than 186,000 cigarette butts, which get recycled into plastic products rather than washing into local waterways and the guts of fish.
Gailis says the costume is the magic. “If [a person in regular clothes] goes downtown and picks up butts, people will say ‘thank you,’ but they’re not going to talk about smoking. Doing something crazy like [having Batman do the dirty work] brings it to the forefront. And people think, ‘I really need to quit. I’ve been talking about it. I haven’t done anything.’”
Gailis knows firsthand how devastating tobacco can be; he watched it destroy his own family growing up. As a physician, he saw patients quit only after a frightening diagnosis made it impossible to ignore. He doesn’t smoke, but took cessation classes after retiring and was stunned that people recovering from heroin and cocaine said nicotine was harder to quit.
“Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable disease, early death, and healthcare expense in the world,” Gailis says. “We’re not doing enough. We’re not going to give up.”
Spider-Man and Robin occasionally join Batman, too. Gailis insists this work is no joke, even when the costume is — no ifs, ands, or “butts” about it.
How Can You Get Involved?
Help the Klamath Basin continue to rise by getting involved in community programs. Whether your passions lie in food, play, art, wellness, careers for the future, or lifelong health, you can help.
