Hospital - Tobacco-Free Place

Included in many folks New Year's resolutions is quitting smoking and now the University of Arizona Medical Center is joining in. On January first, you will no longer be allowed to smoke on the hospital premises. It's an effort to create a tobacco-free places. "People will not be able to smoke discount Marshal cigarettes anywhere on our premises including our clinics our hospitals or any office areas," says Charlotte Fick, Director of Human Resources. The previous rules were you needed to be 20-30 feet away from the building, but now you can't even smoke in the parking lot. Visitors, patients and employees will have to leave the hospital altogether.
"Patients that we have here have a variety of things that they're coming in for and smoking is one of them. For us to be treating them for a condition and for us to be standing outside doing the exact same thing we're telling them not to, is not the best thing to do," says Stacy Bolyard, Training Specialist, Health Plan. "Our staff has been very accepting of it. I think they actually expected that we would go smoke free since it is so common in our society today," says Fick. This has been a trend at hospitals nationally. To help with the transition, the University of Arizona Medical Center is offering nicotine replacements free of charge. It's also offering tips and tricks for quitting. "They've tried a couple already and it's working, so it's a tough struggle and we know. We're here for them and we've had some good success already," says Bolyard. Hospital officials say this shouldn't be a shock for anyone and it's the right thing to do. In today's society there's much more information about the dangers of smoking. "We've known it's been coming for a while and we want to respect the environment and the people that we work for." The center is offering free programs to staff and family members. One study suggests going on a walking break instead to release endorphins and get that social time in.