Hillside Hospital Implements A Smoke-Free Campus Policy
11/10/2011
Hillside Hospital is going tobacco/ smoke -free on November 17, 2011, the Great American Smoke Out Day. After this time, no smoking and tobacco use of any kind will be permitted — inside or outside — on hospital property. This initiative will include the elimination of designated areas outside Hillside Hospital where employees, patients and visitors are currently permitted to use tobacco products. It will also include the physician offices located on the hospital campus.
As a healthcare organization, we are committed to the health and safety of our employees and patients. We believe that we have a responsibility to take a leadership role on this major health issue, and establishing our entire campus as tobacco/ smoke-free firmly supports that belief.
In Tennessee, more than 9,500 deaths a year are contributed to smoking alone. Smoking kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, murders, and suicides combined — and thousands more die from other tobacco-related causes — such as fires caused by smoking (more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco use. The annual health care cost directly cause by smoking in Tennessee is approximately $2.16 billion a year.
The US Surgeon General has confirmed that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is a serious health hazard and that there is no risk-free level of exposure. Tobacco use in and around hospitals poses health and safety risks for patients, employees and visitors.
Hillside Hospital’s decision to go smoke/tobacco-free is not an attempt to force anyone to quit using tobacco products. Rather, the tobacco/smoke -free initiative is a concrete way to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to healthy living.
We are asking for community support in Hillside Hospital’s tobacco/ smoke -free initiative as we move toward November 17.