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IHC Hospitals ban smoking  

MURRAY, Utah (ABC 4 News)- The signs are proudly displayed all over Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. Starting Thursday the hospital will be tobacco free.

Larry Hancock, Region VP for Intermountain’s Hospitals in the Salt Lake Valley said,” Our hospitals are places of healing, and promoting health is central to intermountain’s mission.”

However, that smoking ban at Salt Lake area Intermountain Healthcare hospitals includes the area outside of the healthcare centers. Penny Pixston says the smoking ban is going too far. Pixston says she's 53-years old and has been smoking since she was a teen. She says even lung surgery can't stop her from kicking the habit.

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Stop-smoking efforts among nation's best 

Randy Myers can offer a testimonial to the smoking cessation program at Bucyrus Community Hospital.

So, he agrees with The Joint Commission, which chose the program as one of the 10 best in the nation.

"I smoked for 40 years and was able to quit two years ago because of the help I received from this program," Myers said. "The team came to General Mills, where I worked, and offered the classes and aides.

"I used the nicotine patches and lozenges that were given to me through the program, but the support I received from them was amazing and very helpful."

The program spurred the facility to become the first tobacco-free hospital campus in Ohio on June 17, 2004.

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Selby General Hospital and Wendys Restaurants Help Clean the Air 

Selby General Hospital is partnering with Wendy's restaurants during the Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. The Belpre Wendy's and the Marietta Pike Street Wendy's are conducting a pack exchange from 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Anyone turning in their pack of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco (snuff, spit or dip) will receive a coupon for a FREE combo meal and those exchanging a carton of tobacco will receive three FREE combo meals.

All this is part of the Great American Smokeout, the American Cancer Society's program to generate awareness about the importance of being tobacco free. About 44 percent of the 45.3 million Americans who smoke have attempted to quit for at least one day in the past year, and the Great American Smokeout remains a great opportunity to encourage people to commit to making a long-term plan to quit for good.

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Hospitals in Lee, Collier counties gear up for tobacco ban | news-press.com | The News-Press 

Designated smoking areas in Lee and Collier counties will shrink considerably next week when all of the area's hospitals permanently ban tobacco use on their properties.

The Nov. 19 start of the bans will coincide with the Great American Smokeout, an annual event that encourages smokers to quit for at least 24 hours.

All tobacco products, including chewing tobacco, will be prohibited. That includes tobacco use inside of cars parked in hospital lots.

Lee Memorial Health System, Lehigh Regional Medical Center, Physicians Regional Healthcare System, NCH Healthcare System and Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida Inc. are participating.

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Several NRV hospitals to become tobacco-free facilities 

Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and HCA's two New River Valley Hospitals--Montgomery Regional and Pulaski Community-- are demonstrating a commitment to providing a clean and healthy environment by becoming tobacco-free campuses. Beginning January 1, 2010 patients, visitors and employees are being asked to refrain from using tobacco products when visiting these hospitals, as well as other facilities, including physician practices and outpatient centers, that are part of HCA's and Carilion's health systems in the New River Valley.

"The use of tobacco products, especially smoking, harms nearly every organ of the body. As providers of healthcare, we want to do our part in encouraging healthy lifestyle choices and eliminating harmful behaviors," says Don Halliwill, president of Carilion New River Valley Medical Center. "We appreciate the support and participation of our community as we launch this new initiative."

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Tobacco use to stop at hospitals 

Hoping to improve local health and limit health-care costs, the New River Valley's hospitals are joining together and joining a growing number of businesses that limit tobacco use.

Representatives of HCA and Carilion announced Wednesday morning that their hospitals, physician practices and outpatient centers throughout the New River Valley would go tobacco-free Jan. 1 for employees and guests.

Those facilities include Carilion New River Valley Medical Center near Radford and HCA's Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg and Pulaski Community Hospital in Pulaski.

Carilion Giles Community Hospital will be tobacco-free when it opens in the spring.

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• HLS HSC halts ban on smoking: Other area hospitals ready for Nov. 19 

A smoking ban slated to take effect next week at WVU's Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center (HSC) has been postponed indefinitely.

The HSC, Monongalia Health System, HealthSouth Mountain-View Regional Rehabilitation Hospital and WVU Healthcare -- which includes WVU Hospitals and University Health Associates (UHA) -- announced plans earlier this year to eliminate on-site smoking by the date of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, Nov. 19.

However, the HSC can't implement a smoking ban without approval from the WVU Board of Governors (BOG). The board met Friday, but the smoking policy was not on the agenda.

Dr. Fred Butcher, vice president for planning and operations, said the HSC will wait to see what happens with a campuswide smoking policy review initiated by WVU President James Clements.

"I'm absolutely confident we'll get there," Butcher said. "We just need to go through the appropriate process." . . .

At Friday's BOG meeting, Clements said a task force is being formed to review the smoking policy. Faculty, students and staff will be included, but Clements said it will likely take time to address the issue.

It can take a year or more to address a campus smoking policy, he said.

"The discussion about that is fairly complex," Clements said. "When are you on campus, when are you off campus. ... It's a complicated issue. I just want to allow people to have input."

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Miller School goes smokeless  

The University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine is joining the tobacco-free trend that is sweeping the nation, with plans to institute a campus-wide ban on smoking early next year.

Smoking is already forbidden inside buildings around the 153-acre UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center complex but soon it will be prohibited outside as well. The ban will include parking lots and garages, benches and picnic tables and even parked cars.

"As a recognized health institution, [we] should project that image," said Dr. Richard Thurer, chairman of the smoke-free coordinating committee. He says the new policy is a natural extension of the school’s mission: to promote healthy behavior.

“The major goal is to get smokers into smoking cessation programs,” said Thurer, senior associate dean of faculty affairs at the medical school.

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Burnt Out | University of Miami takes first step in effort to start campus-wide smoking ban  

Smoking is now banned in and around the University of Miami's Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.

UM opted to convert not only the building and medical center, but also the outside facilities into a smoke-free environment.

"I think it makes sense banning smoking from the medical center, a place that is supposed to promote healthy behavior," said Gabriel Hernandez, a senior biology major at the University of Miami.

The ban will include parking lots, garages, parked cars and the area outside of the Medical Center, according to an article in the university's student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane.

UM administration will consider whether to extend the smoking ban campus-wide, according to the article.

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Florida Hospital DeLand to go tobacco-free  

Florida Hospital DeLand's new tobacco-free policy will go into effect Nov. 19, prohibiting any use of tobacco products by employees, physicians, visitors, patients, volunteers, vendors and medical staff anywhere on the hospital campus or property.

This prohibition will apply to smoking in personal vehicles on the property as well as on any sidewalks or streets within the boundaries of the campus.

Many other area hospitals already have smoking bans in place. Florida Hospital, Health Central and Orlando Regional Healthcare banned tobacco products anywhere on their properties, starting in July 2008.

"As a healing institution, we have a commitment to provide a safe and healthy environment to everyone who visits our facility," said Daryl Tol, CEO/President of Florida Hospital DeLand in a hospital release. "It is also our responsibility to promote healthy living, wellness and disease prevention to the community."

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• State bans smoking in mental hospitals 

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned that the state plans to ban smoking in the seven state mental hospitals on Jan. 5, a steep challenge considering the high percentage of smokers among those with mental illness.

But Tom Wilson, spokesman for the state Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, said the measure will make the patients and facilities healthier. He also said the ban could advance patients' treatment, helping them to give up an often addictive habit.

Wilson acknowledged the challenges, pointing to national statistics that show 75 percent of people with mental illness or addictions smoke, and that nearly half of the cigarettes consumed in the country are smoked by people with mental illness.

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Hospital grounds go tobacco free Nov. 19 

Frankfort Regional Medical Center is going tobacco free - outdoors and in.

In conjunction with the American Cancer Society's 34th Great American Smokeout Challenge on Nov. 19, the local medical center is creating a tobacco free environment.

Administrators and medical staff believe the move is vital to promoting the health of patients, visitors, employees, volunteers, medical staff and others, according to a news release.

Tobacco use of any kind will not be permitted:

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• Wear | Hospital smoking shelters U-turn 

Sunderland Royal Hospital is "reluctantly" reinstating shelters for smokers in its grounds.

Health bosses admit they are unable to stop people disobeying the no-smoking rule and lighting up just outside the hospital's main doors.

This had led to complaints by patients and staff about second-hand smoke drifting into the building.

Purpose-built shelters, which were dismantled two years ago, are to be set up again.

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VIDEO: Smoke-free hospital grounds idea 

Smoking could be banned in hospital grounds in Wales, it has emerged.

Health Minister Edwina Hart described the level of smoking she saw at one maternity unit as "quite amazing".

But she told the Welsh assembly health committee that no firm conclusions had been reached on making hospitals entirely smoke-free.

Ms Hart also said there was a "low-level discussion" with the UK government on the possible outlawing of tobacco vending machines.

She warned that policing a ban in hospital grounds might be difficult as staff could "get an absolute mouthful".

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Coffee to allow smoking in park  

Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital - Administrators at Coffee Health Group have agreed to open the park across the street from Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital emergency room for smokers.

The decision was made during Monday's board meeting and comes in response to complaints by residents who live in homes that border the hospital to the south.

Coffee facilities became smoke free Oct. 1 in response to a Florence city ordinance that bans smoking in all public buildings and on public property. Coffee Health Group includes ECM Hospital and ECM East in Florence and Shoals Hospital in Muscle Shoals.

Bridges Crawford, who lives near ECM, had complained that smokers were making their way across Alabama Street and up Water Avenue to smoke near homes in the Rivermont subdivision.

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