MCH goes Tobacco-Free on July 1

Memorial Community Hospital and Health System will be tobacco-free, inside and out, effective July 1. This new policy aims to protect patients, visitors, employees and physicians from the adverse effects of tobacco products.
According to MCH President and CEO Sally Harvey, the ban includes all employees, patients and visitors to the hospital and its clinics. It also covers all property in Blair, Fort Calhoun, Oakland and Tekamah, including parking lots and other grounds. Currently, tobacco use is banned inside all buildings and is confined to designated smoking areas outside.

“As a healthcare facility, we are striving to create an environment that is committed to all aspects of healthcare – wellness and prevention, as well as treatment,” Harvey said. “The harmful medical consequences of smoking and second-hand smoke are undisputed. Smoking is responsible for over 440,000 premature deaths and $157 billion in health care and lost productivity cost annually. Smoking negatively affects bone and wound healing and patients who smoke have twice the risk of postoperative infection.

“We have an obligation to create and maintain a healthy environment for anyone who seeks treatment at our facility. Providing a space to smoke does not assist patients with quitting or provide a healthier environment. By maintaining designated smoking areas outside, it sends a message of approval for smoking.”

Harvey went on to say, “Hospitals across the nation, including our partners at Alegent Health, have adopted strict tobacco-free policies. With this in mind, the MCH Board of Directors passed a resolution last year on the new smoking ban.”

MCH employees were informed of the policy in January, giving them six months to get ready. Working through the MCH Wellness Committee, the hospital has been offering continuous smoking cessation educational classes, free of charge, for employees over the lunch hour.

In addition, the Wellness Committee committed to helping employees quit smoking by offering assistance with the purchase of Chantix™, the first new prescription medication approved by the FDA for smoking cessation in nearly a decade. Chantix™, is specifically designed to help adults stop smoking by blocking nicotine receptors in the brain. It is, indeed, a “wonder drug” and employees report no cravings and withdrawal symptoms.

Chantix™ is unique because it is specifically designed to partially activate the nicotinic receptor and reduce the severity of the smoker's craving and the withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. Moreover, if a person smokes a cigarette while receiving treatment, Chantix™ has the potential to diminish the sense of satisfaction associated with smoking. MCH employees who sign up for a smoking cessation class can have their provider write a prescription for Chantix ™.
“The prescription can be filled at the MCH Pharmacy and if the employee’s insurance does not pay for the drug, the Wellness Committee will pay for 50 percent,” Harvey explained. “Employees also had the option of having the cost be payroll deducted.”

Before the policy takes effect on July 1, all employees will have received training on the new policy and how to address issues that might arise. “It is important that we all communicate this policy in a caring, but firm way,” Harvey stressed. “Our pledge is to not allow harmful behaviors like smoking to take place on our properties. If any place should be smoke free, it’s a health care facility.”

MCH is also sponsoring another reduced-rate Freedom From Smoking ® clinic for community members. The next class starts Wednesday, July 18. The eight-session stop-smoking clinic will be held each Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m., and costs $25 per participant. For more information, please call the MCH Community Relations Department at (402) 426-1464.