The Smoke-Free Movement
Hospital's Smoke-Free Program a Success
From today's Rockford Register Star:
Business Update: Hospitals’ smoke-free program a success
By Nate Legue
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
ROCKFORD — Cigarettes were Barb Boomer’s best friend. For 39 years, they were there when she was happy, sad, stressed or calm.
But last year her employer, OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, vowed to ban smoking everywhere on its property, prompting a tough decision for the outpatient phlebotomist.
“I’ve really enjoyed smoking,” Boomer said. “Even though I knew healthwise I wanted to quit, I enjoyed smoking.”
All three Rockford hospitals outlawed smoking Nov. 16 and six months later, administrators say everyone is breathing a smoke-free sigh of relief. While resolute smokers are forced to head for nearby coffee shops and parking lots for a few puffs, they do it on their own time now.
Banning smoking at facilities dedicated to health care may have been an easy decision, but it now looks like Saint Anthony, SwedishAmerican Health System and Rockford Health System were ahead of a major statewide push to limit smoking in public places. A ban that would prohibit smoking in all but a few public places in Illinois passed both houses this month and awaits the governor’s signature.
“There were so many other hospitals and communities that have done this that we really were riding the wave,” said Dr. Kathleen Kelly, chief medical officer at Swedish-American.
The surgeon general warned last year that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, giving ammunition to anti-smoking advocates and feeding a wave of community proposals to ban smoking in public spots. On Nov. 1, Beloit Memorial Hospital will go smoke free. Its NorthPointe Health and Wellness Campus, now under construction in Roscoe, already prohibits smoking on-site.
The change at the Rockford hospitals may have had the greatest effect on patients’ families, who are among the few people who trudge to the end of the property line at Saint Anthony for a smoke, Boomer said. At SwedishAmerican, administrators held meetings with employees before the ban to explain its purpose, a move that probably lessened any blowback, Kelly said.
“I expected more of a problem than we had,” Kelly said. “We heard resistance from some of our employees. It was an inconvenience for them, and I’m sorry for that, but we really felt that it was important to provide a healthy community around the hospital.”
Business Update: Hospitals’ smoke-free program a success
By Nate Legue
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
ROCKFORD — Cigarettes were Barb Boomer’s best friend. For 39 years, they were there when she was happy, sad, stressed or calm.
But last year her employer, OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, vowed to ban smoking everywhere on its property, prompting a tough decision for the outpatient phlebotomist.
“I’ve really enjoyed smoking,” Boomer said. “Even though I knew healthwise I wanted to quit, I enjoyed smoking.”
All three Rockford hospitals outlawed smoking Nov. 16 and six months later, administrators say everyone is breathing a smoke-free sigh of relief. While resolute smokers are forced to head for nearby coffee shops and parking lots for a few puffs, they do it on their own time now.
Banning smoking at facilities dedicated to health care may have been an easy decision, but it now looks like Saint Anthony, SwedishAmerican Health System and Rockford Health System were ahead of a major statewide push to limit smoking in public places. A ban that would prohibit smoking in all but a few public places in Illinois passed both houses this month and awaits the governor’s signature.
“There were so many other hospitals and communities that have done this that we really were riding the wave,” said Dr. Kathleen Kelly, chief medical officer at Swedish-American.
The surgeon general warned last year that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke, giving ammunition to anti-smoking advocates and feeding a wave of community proposals to ban smoking in public spots. On Nov. 1, Beloit Memorial Hospital will go smoke free. Its NorthPointe Health and Wellness Campus, now under construction in Roscoe, already prohibits smoking on-site.
The change at the Rockford hospitals may have had the greatest effect on patients’ families, who are among the few people who trudge to the end of the property line at Saint Anthony for a smoke, Boomer said. At SwedishAmerican, administrators held meetings with employees before the ban to explain its purpose, a move that probably lessened any blowback, Kelly said.
“I expected more of a problem than we had,” Kelly said. “We heard resistance from some of our employees. It was an inconvenience for them, and I’m sorry for that, but we really felt that it was important to provide a healthy community around the hospital.”