Patients entering the ER at Atmore Community Hospital will be able to breath easier beginning Thursday when the campus goes smokefree – indoors and outdoors. The new policy coincides with the Great American Smokeout, a day set aside yearly to urge smokers to quit.
“It’s a company-wide initiative,” ACH Administrator Bill Perkins said. “All of the Baptist Health Cares are going smokefree. Jay Hospital has already implemented the policy.”
ACH implements smokefree policy
Baptist Health Care’s expansion of its smoking policy to the outdoors, which was made in an effort to ensure patients, families, employees and community members are not exposed to the harmful effects of smoking while on any of its campuses, is something Perkins believes will be beneficial in many ways.
“It’s in line with our mission of trying to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve,” he said. “Certainly smoking has so many health risks, it kind of goes against the grain. Secondhand smoke is a big deal and we have a lot of patients who have chronic pulmonary disease and lung disease such as COPD, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, that come in and out to see a pulmonologist or that are coming to the out patient clinic. A lot of people will congregate around the doors smoking and that secondhand smoke can be an irritant to those who have had medical problems. So not only is it a courtesy issue, but it is also for a lot of patients having to deal with it coming in and out of the hospital for their treatment.”
Four Baptist Health Care facilities – Jay Hospital, Baptist Manor, Baptist Behavioral Medicine Hospital and Baptist Home Health Care – have already adopted smokefree campus policies. By going completely smoke free, Baptist Health Care joins 1,800 hospitals nationwide that have adopted smokefree campus policies.
“A recent study by the Joint Commission estimates the majority of U.S. hospital will be smokefree by the end of 2009,” Baptist Health Care media relations manager Colleen Kirsch said.
Kirsch added that statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. An estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke each year.
Perkins realizes that several patients and visitors will be upset over the smoking ban, but hopes that they realize the effects smoking has on the people around them and choose not to light up.
“If they get caught smoking, we’ve got cards to hand out and try to inform folks of what the policy is,” Perkins said. “We’re hopeful that most folks will be respectful of our wishes. I realize that some people will be upset by it and that’s not the intent, but in our mission of preventing illness, curing disease and promoting wellness, this was an organizational decision that that was the right thing to do.”
The City of Atmore adopted a Smokefree Air Act in October 2008 prohibiting smoking in all public areas including restaurants.
source: http://www.atmoreadvance.com
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