Smoking Prevention
Tobacco Free is the Way to Be For Better Health!
SRHS is continually taking steps to promote health and wellness
in our Hospital System by supporting a smoke-free environment
for our patients. We are striving to offer alternative methods
to smoking to our patients by performing personal nurse assessments
and facilitating physician orders. Our Cardiopulmonary Services
department is available to help direct patients to viable smoking
cessation programs.
We are proud of our efforts to make health and wellness a
priority, and to offer steps to our patients, visitors and
employees towards a healthier way of life through smoking cessation.
Our mission is to promote health and wellness in the communities
we serve. In an attempt to offer education and updates, we
link below to a wealth of information relating to tobacco issues,
tobacco prevention, and smoking cessation.
Our goal is to become a smoke-free environment. Since November
of 2003, Samaritan has asked patients to refrain from smoking
while admitted to the Hospital. Visitors may smoke in a designated area just off of the Emergency Department entrance.
Quitting Helps You Heal Faster
Why should I quit now?
Smoking may slow your recovery from surgery and
illness. It may also slow bone and wound healing.
All hospitals in the United States are smoke-free.
You will be told not to smoke during your
hospital stay.
Your visit with us is a great time to quit smoking.
How do I quit in the hosptal?
Talk to your doctor or other hospital staff about
a plan for quitting. Ask for help right away.
Your doctor may give you medicine to help you
handle withdrawal while in the hospital and beyond.
Helpful hints to stay smoke
- Ask your friends and family for support.
- Continue your quit
plan after your hospital stay.
- Make sure you leave the
hospital with the right medicines or
prescriptions.
- If you "slip" and smoke,
don't give
up. Set a new date
to get back on track.
For help in quitting smoking, call the National Cancer
Institute's Smoking Quitline toll free at (877) 44U-QUIT.
More tips and help are also available at the following websites:
Our Smoking Policy
By implementing a smoking policy, SRHS hopes that more
lives will be spared from secondhand smoke and smoke-related
illnesses, and the System is trying to ensure the comfort all
its visitors, both smokers and non-smokers alike.
An outdoor, sheltered location is available to tobacco users
who
are visiting patients. The shelter, which is the only authorized
smoking area at SRHS, is located near the Emergency Department
where passive smoke and fire
risk
are
minimized.
All visitors
who smoke will be more informed of the specifics of this
policy when they arrive at the Hospital.
Upon the
admission
of a patient who is a smoker, our medical staff will work
closely with the patient to ensure they have a comfortable
and
pleasant visit, as they will be asked to refrain from all
smoking while they are hospitalized, no exceptions.
Provisions within this policy may include Samaritan staff
contacting a patients' physician to make sure all advisements
are followed carefully, and to promote optimum treatment.
SRHS staff will also make patients aware of nicotine replacement
therapies which will be available, including inhalers and
nicotine
patches (these therapies have been proven very effective
for those patients who don't feel they can forgo smoking
during
their stay).
The Samaritan smoking policy was the result
of continuous efforts from the SRHS medical staff and its
administration to enhance the level of wellness for all
who come through the
Hospital's doors. It is a proven fact that smoking is a factor
in the top four causes of death, patients who smoke regularly
before surgery have twice the risk of wound infections as
do non-smokers, smoking retards wound healing, and a smoker's
broken bones
take almost twice as long to heal as a non-smoker's.
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