SMH campus going tobacco-free

Nurse at Southampton Memorial Hospital, Rickmond have to leave the grounds to smoke when in the hospital is a tobacco-free campus on November 8. "I tend to try to give up," 49-year-old Franklin woman said. "It's about time. I've smoked since I was 13 years old." The ban means that visitors and employees can more light on the area, which includes parking, serving hospitals, four medical institutions and East Pavilion nursing home, said Ann Williams, director of marketing. Smoking is prohibited inside all buildings. The ban will also include areas Courtland Medical Center and Total Care family near the Belk department store on Armory Drive in Franklin. To help the estimated 10 percent of the 425 hospital employees who smoke free smoking cessation program will be offered to them and their families, Williams said. Rickmond plans to participate. "I plan to take advantage of every tool," she said. "As a long-term smoker, I know it will be a problem." Study in April marking Franklin as one of the least healthy communities in Virginia inspired the ban, said Williams. In a study of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Franklin takes a hundred and twenty-seventh of the 131 cities and counties in health. Results were associated with high levels of unemployment and poverty. The study found that 22 percent of Franklin smoke, which is 3 percentage points higher than the average state. "It makes sense for us to be a leader in the community, to make people healthier," said Williams. "We are a health care provider community." The hospital will provide free nicotine patches to employees and cessation counselors. Nicotine gum and tablets will be offered to visitors and staff, she said. Employees currently smoke in their cars, parking lots and outside the hospital, where benches and ashtrays are provided, Williams said. Rickmond, clinical coordinator of the medical surgical floor, goes to his car to smoke on privacy. "Smoking has always been the kind of conflict for me," she said. "I am very careful public smoker, but you want to live, what you teach." "I smoked for many years and do not get the same pleasure," Rickmond continued to say. "It's very expensive, and I am in the minority now. My life tends to choose healthy foods, exercise and diet." "(If they want to smoke), they should be on our property," Williams said. "Of course, we do not recommend them to go out or get on someone else's property. We really try to encourage our employees to take advantage of this opportunity to become healthier and give them the tools they need to quit smoking." "We're not trying to punish our smoking or our employees," she added. "It's a personal choice." Hospital smoking bans * Visitors and staff will have to leave the base Southampton Memorial Hospital smoking when the hospital is a tobacco-free campus on November 8. * Affected areas include parking lots that serve the hospital, four medical institutions and East Pavilion nursing home, according to officials. * Smoking is prohibited inside all buildings. * The ban will also include areas Courtland Medical Center and Total Care family near the Belk department store on Armory Drive in Franklin. * Hospital staff who smokes will be offered free smoking cessation programs for them and their families