Gateway Regional Medical Center to go tobacco-free
Some smoking employees disgruntled
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| Haley Murray photo -- The Smoking Shelter, affectionately referred to as a "Butt Hut" by those who use it, is one of two smoking areas on the Gateway Regional Medical Center campus. The two huts will be dismantled once the campus goes tobacco-free in November. |
"We've been smoke-free on the inside for sometime," said Todd Hofmeister, director of business development and chair of the Tobacco Free Committee at GRMC. "And with several area hospitals going tobacco-free, we thought to ourselves we should do the same."
Anderson Hospital in Maryville went tobacco-free last year, along with Alton Memorial Hospital, St. Anthony's Hospital in Alton, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville.The center will implement the tobacco ban, which includes smoking cigarettes and cigars, and chewing tobacco, on Nov. 15 of this year, coinciding with the Great American Smoke Out, an annual event when all smokers are encouraged to quit for a day.
At that time, the two smoking shelters on the campus, located outside of the Emergency Room entrance and near the Behavioral Health Building, will be dismantled.
"We should set an example (for the community)," Hofmeister said. He said that employees were notified of the impending ban in Wednesday's employee newsletter. "There are certain things we can do to promote good health, and this seemed like a big one, (though) it is going to be a big trial when we roll it out."
Some GRMC employees appeared to agree during their smoking break Thursday afternoon in the smoking shelter - affectionately called a "Butt Hut" by those who use it - outside the Emergency Room.
The four smoking employees, who declined to be identified or photographed, expressed irritation about the ban, saying it couldn't be enforced and that it was hypocritical.
"Oh yea, it's going to look really good to see all the employees standing across the street (from the hospital) smoking their cigarettes," one woman said. "At least here (in the smoking shelter), they can just call for me (from the Emergency Room) if they need me. With the ban, who knows where I'll be."
Hofmeister said smoking employees would be required to clock out to take a smoke break and would have to leave the premises to light up.
"This job is stressful enough without them taking away my cigarettes," said another woman during her break. "I just don't agree with it."
Smoking cessation classes will be offered to smoking employees to help them quit or at least alleviate their tobacco addiction, Hofmeister said, as well as educational workshops on the dangers of smoking and smoking alternatives, such as a nicotine patch or nicotine gum.
"The bottom line is, there is no smoking on campus. We're no longer going to provide a place (on campus) for smokers to go," he said. "They'll have to find something on their own."
Note cards and other flyers will be posted through out the medical center notifying staff, patients and visitors of the approaching ban in the coming months. Once the ban has been implemented, visitors who smoke will be politely asked to exit the campus before lighting up.
E-mail: hmurray@yourjournal.com
