Www.cthosp.org



New London Day - Monday, November 10, 2008

For L&M, The Butt Stops There

Smoking to become off limits on the entire hospital grounds

By Judy Benson

New London - The “butt hut” is about to become obsolete.

On Nov. 20, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital will become an entirely smoke-free facility, outside as well as inside. Any X-ray technicians, nurses, doctors, file clerks, administrators, housekeeping staff and other workers who used to go to the “butt hut” - a smoking shelter at the rear of the main hospital building - will have to either go off the property to the sidewalk to light up, or quit. Staff will be able to smoke in their cars for a six-month grace period through May.

The hut will be converted into a bus shelter.

”We're a health care institution, and we want to promote the health and safety and well-being of our staff and visitors,” said Peter Fraser, vice president and chief human resources officer at L&M. “We want to send out the message that we are a leader in promoting health.”

As at other public buildings, smoking is already prohibited inside the main hospital and its auxiliary facilities. Smoking by visitors and staff has been tolerated outside L&M's buildings, however. On Friday afternoon, for example, a middle-aged man smoked on a bench outside the outpatient entrance, beneath a sign that describes how L&M every day treats patients with serious illnesses from smoking.

Fraser said that after Nov. 20, that same man would be gently reminded that smoking is not allowed on hospital grounds, and that if he wanted to smoke he would have to go off the property.

”Our enforcement will not be confrontational,” he said. “We'll remind them of our policy and ask that they respect that.”

L&M decided to make Nov. 20 the start of the smoke-free campus to coincide with the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, an annual event to encourage people to quit.

Three other hospitals in the state will join L&M in going smoke-free on that date, said Leslie Gianelli, spokeswoman for the Connecticut Hospital Association.

Gianelli said five of the state's 36 hospitals are already smoke-free, and the rest have agreed to adopt the policy by 2010.

Hospitals, she said, won't mandate workers give up smoking when they're off duty, but will make new programs and resources available to help them quit.

Unions representing hospital workers, she said, have supported the new policy. Within unions, smoking has been a contentious issue at times, with nonsmokers complaining that the smokers' habit means they get more breaks than others, she said.

At L&M, a new smoking cessation program for workers began over the summer in preparation for the new policy. Thus far, said Lindsay Beckwith, the hospital's wellness coordinator, 40 people have enrolled, and three have successfully completed it. Others have told her they are planning to join in the coming weeks.

L&M, she said, has periodically offered classes on quitting, but those didn't fit the schedules of many employees. The new program, called ESCAP - an acronym that stands for Employees Smoking Cessation Assistance Program - includes one-on-one counseling for smokers with Beckwith either in person or on the phone, plus free supplies of nicotine patches and two medications, Chantix and Wellbutrin.

”Medication doubles your chances for success,” she said.

She emphasized that enrollment is voluntary. She estimates that about 600 of the hospital's 2,500 employees are smokers, a figure in keeping with smoking rates statewide.

”The smoke-free campus is wonderful leverage,” she said. “People are using it as motivation” to start a quit program.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download