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Shands snuffs out smoking at hospitals

At the smoking atrium outside Shands at the University of Florida, five people sat in silence, each dangling a cigarette between their fingers Wednesday night.

One elderly patient had a wheelchair and an oxygen pack. Red and yellow hospital bracelets hung from her wrist, and she stared solemnly into space as she took drags of her Virginia Slims.

Nearby, a nurse leaned against a brick wall and listened to an iPod. She held a Marlboro Light in one hand and a Styrofoam coffee cup in the other.

Tonight, the scenario will play out differently.

The atrium may be empty. Or people may go there to enjoy the fresh air. But the tobacco ban that begins today at Shands HealthCare and the University of Florida Health Science Center leaves one thing for certain.

There will be no smoking.

Melanie Ross, director of news and communication at UF's Health Science Center, said the ban is a part of Tobacco Free Together, a campaign designed to promote healthy habits.

"Health is about more than treating diseases, but also being aware that there are certain steps that are necessary to prevent illness," she said.

Shands spokeswoman Kim Rose said it seems inappropriate to permit smoking at a facility where one out of every seven adult patients is hospitalized for a cancer-related illness.

The ban begins the same day that the $388 million Shands Cancer Hospital opens, she added.

To help employees who want to quit, the hospital offers free counseling, medicines and self-help materials, Rose said.

The resources might work well for 22-year-old lift team tech Timothy Meek, who said the ban is a good reason to quit smoking. His breaks are usually 15 minutes, so he won't have time to leave the hospital for a cigarette, he said.

But for Shands housekeeper Crystal Johnson, 26, the ban is a problem.

Her eight-hour shifts without cigarettes will be stressful, and she doesn't plan to quit smoking or to use the hospital's smoking cessation programs.

"I'll just have to suck it up," she said.

As hard as it will be for employees, Shands respiratory care assistant Derrick Florence, 19, said that the ban will be most difficult for patients and visitors.

Some tobacco-addicted patients are confined to the hospital for weeks. And grief-stricken visitors won't be allowed to step outside for a cigarette after losing a loved one.

Inpatients who are addicted to cigarettes will be assessed for free nicotine patches or other resources to help them manage their cravings or quit using tobacco, according to the UF Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare Web site.

Policy makers will rely on employees, patients and visitors to enforce the ban by asking rule breakers to stop.

Shands and the UF Health Science Center in Jacksonville banned tobacco in November 2008, and UF's main campus will follow suit July 1.

About 70 other Florida hospitals have banned tobacco, according to a press release from UF's Health Science Center.

Rose said enrollment in tobacco cessation classes has not increased before the ban.

Justin Fowler, 18, a respiratory care assistant at Shands, said he doesn't smoke, but his peers at Shands talk about it often.

"I know it's going to be hard for people. They're gonna be hiding under their cars," he joked. "Everybody that smokes talks about it. That's all they talk about, 'two more days to smoke.' "

Today's ban on smoking at UF's medical complex precedes the university's campus-wide tobacco ban that will go into effect in July 2010.

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