People Ban: WA Hospitals

Everett hospital bans smoking across entire campus

June 18, 2007
By Molly Shen

If you leave to light up, don’t come back. That’s the tough new “no smoking” policy for patients at Providence Everett Medical Center.

The smoking hut is down.

The signs are up.

The cigarette butts are out.

And the new smoking rule is in effect.

“Oh, you can’t even go in the garage?” a smoker named Ron said when told him. “Oh. I was just gonna light up wherever, actually.”

That was until we told him about the new rules: No smoking anywhere on the campus.

“I was just going to walk out, light up and walk on,” Ron said. “But you stopped me, so I can’t light up now.”

Employees and visitors can grab a smoke if they go to the public sidewalk.

Patients can’t even do that. They can get a nicotine patch. Patients who insist on smoking will be discharged.

“What we’re looking at here is health care, reducing second hand smoke exposure to people that come on our campuses and better health care for our patients when they’re here,” explained Janet Straus, an assistant administrator at Providence.

Getting rid of outdoor smoking areas seems like a no-brainer to non-smokers.

“It’s probably for the better,” said Matt Bilodeau as he dropped off his wife for an appointment. “Ultimately the overall reason for the place is people’s health. So it’s kind of silly. You figure people that do smoke could wait.”

Patient and non-smoker Oisin Gunning agreed, saying, “If they’re just at the hospital trying to get better, they shouldn’t be doing things that are harmful to their health. Just doesn’t make sense.”

Harborview Medical Center in Seattle also has a no smoking campus. But if patients are well enough to leave their beds at Harborview – and go outside to smoke – that’s allowed as long as they follow the law and stay 25 feet from doorways.

Other area hospitals ask smokers to sign a waiver acknowledging the risks.

But Providence Everett is the first to tell patients if they’re going to smoke, they’re not going to do it here.
Read and watch the video

Patients could be discharged if they smoke
HeraldNet – Everett,WA,USA
By Sharon Salyer EVERETT – Patients can be discharged if they insist on smoking at Providence Everett Medical Center, part of a tough new smoking ban that …

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Hospital’s tobacco ban berated

August 26, 2006
Sharon Salyer

Stevens Hospital in Edmonds is expected to ban smoking anywhere on its campus, even by patients.

EDMONDS – Bonnie Burden had carefully wheeled the tall metal stand that held an intravenous bag, its tube attached to her arm, out the doors of Stevens Hospital.

She sat in a blue chair in the parking lot, within shouting distance of its emergency room.

“I think they’ll have a problem,” she said as she inhaled her cigarette. “Where are patients going to go?”

Burden was referring to Stevens Hospital’s proposed new policy, scheduled to go into effect Friday, banning smoking and the use of other tobacco products anywhere on its property. It is the first hospital in Snohomish County to ban smoking on its campus for employees, patients and visitors.

The hospital, at 21601 76th Ave. W., is bordered by 215th Street SW and Highway 99. In addition to the hospital, the campus includes an oncology center and Stevens Pavilion, home of Hadfield’s Pharmacy.

The policy is even more strict than the tough indoor smoking ban approved by state voters last fall. That law includes a prohibition on smoking within 25 feet of doors, windows and ventilation intakes.

Stevens Hospital’s current designated smoking area is in its back parking lot. Its borders are marked by white-and-orange sawhorses. It includes a table, a bench and chairs. A large, sand-filled cement pot sitting at Burden’s side was filled with more than 150 stubbed-out cigarettes.

Burden said she’s been a patient at the hospital five times in the last three years. “I know the hospital pretty well,” she said, adding she’s heard that patients are upset about the tobacco ban.

“With the 25-foot rule, I said ‘OK, fine,’†” Burden said, referring to the state’s smoking law. “Twenty-five feet is better than off the premises.

“You know they’re not going to let you go off the property unless you can find some trick way,” she said of the problems patients will soon face when they try to light up. “I don’t know what that is.”

The new rule, which has been under discussion since January, is expected to be formally approved by the hospital’s five elected board members at its meeting Wednesday .

The action is thought to be a formality, since a number of groups, including its medical committee, committees of the hospital board and the hospital’s administrative leadership have approved it, said spokeswoman Beth Engel.

“The sense is, this is really (in line) with our mission to enhance the health of the community,” she said. “Hopefully, the community will understand that what we’re trying to do is encourage healthy behavior.”

Nevertheless, Dawn Grow, a 32-year hospital employee who sat next to Burden in the smoking area one recent morning remained unconvinced.

“It’s a public hospital,” she said, referring to its status as a taxpayer-supported hospital. “As a public hospital, how can they say it’s a nonsmoking campus?”

People who come to the hospital often do so in stressful circumstances, such as illness or injury, she said. “A stressful situation is not a time to quit smoking.”

A petition signed by 66 hospital employees asserts that the anti-tobacco policy is illegal. “We should have a safe, protected smoking area separate from visitors and patients,” it says.

The new policy will prevent people from smoking even in the privacy of their car if it’s parked on hospital property, Grow said.

“Someone must stay awake all night thinking of rules and regulations,” she added. “I just don’t understand this.”

Employees who violate the new policy could face disciplinary action, although initially employees will receive warnings, Engel said.

Cards outlining the new policy will be displayed at key locations in the hospital for visitors to pick up, Engel said. Security officers will hand them to employees or visitors whom they see smoking.

Employees may request one free box of nicotine patches, she said. Classes to help smokers quit also are available.

“It’s not unusual for government agencies and businesses to take a stand to limit smoking during work hours,” Engel said. “We are a health care facility.”

Snohomish County’s other three hospitals limit, but don’t ban, tobacco use on their campuses.

Valley General Hospital in Monroe has taken one additional step. It gives hiring preference to nonsmokers, a policy it has had for at least five years, said spokeswoman Monica Sylte.

Hospital patients who smoke must sign a release saying they are smoking against medical advice, she added.

Providence Everett Medical Centers is reconsidering designating its campus as smoke-free, said spokeswoman Teresa Wenta.

Concerns over approving such a ban include worries that smokers would stand in the yards of nearby neighbors and that patients who want to smoke may threaten to leave.

“It puts the care providers in a difficult situation,” Wenta said.

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

Smoking policies at other area hospitals

Cascade Valley Hospital in Arlington: Employees cannot smoke on campus. Visitors can, as long as they’re at least 25 feet from doors and windows.

Harborview Medical Center in Seattle: There are several designated smoking areas for staff and visitors, including one in a parking garage and one near the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

Providence Everett Medical Center: Signs are posted reminding people that smoking is banned within 25 feet of building entrances. There’s a covered smoking shelter near the hospital’s Medical Office Building.

Valley General Hospital in Monroe: Smoking is banned within 50 feet of hospital entrances. Employees can only smoke at a designated smoking area.