Greater Cincinnati hospital campuses are Tobacco-Free!

On January 1, 2007, 20 hospitals in the Greater Cincinnati region assumed a collective leadership role in improving the health of their communities by making their entire campuses tobacco-free. The tobacco-free area extends to all property owned by the hospital, indoors or outside. This policy applies to all staff, patients, visitors, guests, vendors, volunteers, contractual workers, and the general public.

Education and assistance have been provided by all hospitals implementing tobacco-free policies. Employees and patients have been provided with cessation support and options for how to handle their addiction. Examples of hospital programs available to help tobacco users include telephone counseling through the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line, and the American Cancer Society Quit Line.

Tobacco-free policies provide a healthy environment for everyone involved with hospital care. Studies show that it is also more likely that a person will have a successful quit attempt if their employer enacts a tobacco-free policy. A tobacco-free workplace is consistent with the mission of all health care institutions, in that it works to improve the overall health of the community that it serves. It is especially important for hospitals to promote tobacco-free campuses, since tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, tobacco use contributes to the leading causes of death, patients who smoke regularly before surgery have twice the risk of wound infection, smoking retards wound healing, a smoker's bones take nearly twice as long to heal as a non-smoker's, secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals of which 50 are known carcinogens, among other reasons. Individuals with questions about the implementation of this policy are asked to call their area hospital for more information.