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Billings, Mont., Hospitals Ban Smoking

Posted on: Sunday, 16 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

By Diane Cochran, Billings Gazette, Mont.

Oct. 16--Since her father's heart attack two weeks ago, Kathy Wilson has relied on nicotine to get her through each day.

Wilson, of Williston, N.D., regularly escapes into a small courtyard outside her father's room at Deaconess Billings Clinic to decompress and have a smoke.

"If I couldn't smoke here -- Lord, I'd go crazy," Wilson said. "I think they went just a little crazy with these no-smoking laws."

On Friday, Deaconess and St. Vincent Healthcare announced they have added another one to the books.

Beginning Nov. 17, smoking will not be allowed anywhere on either hospital's campuses -- inside or outside.

"We think this is the right thing to do for our patients, our employees and our visitors," said St. Vincent executive vice president and chief operating officer Jack Bell.

The decision extends a ban that already applied to the interiors of both hospitals' buildings. Visitors, staff and patients have had to go outside to smoke for years.

"It may come as a surprise to some of you that many, many patients are outside with IV poles having cigarettes while admitted to our facilities," said Jim Duncan, president of the Deaconess Foundation.

St. Vincent and Deaconess have adopted identical anti-smoking policies and plan to post signs in their parking lots and other outside areas to announce the new rules.

People seen violating the ban will be handed small cards explaining why they must extinguish their cigarettes.

In addition, employees will no longer be allowed to step outside for smoke breaks during their shifts.

Officials hope staff members who smoke will use the ban as an opportunity to quit. Cessation medications will be offered to employees at a discount, and both hospitals will hold smoking cessation classes.

Cigarettes kill 400,000 Americans a year, and another 40,000 die from exposure to second-hand smoke, according to Dr. Bob Merchant, a Deaconess pulmonologist.

Smoking costs the health care industry $157 billion a year, Merchant said.

"This is a very exciting time in Montana," he said. "We are at a point now where the vast majority of Montanans, even those who smoke, are beginning to understand what this does to health."

Merchant said 70 percent of smokers want to quit and 50 percent are actively trying to quit.

"We're not imposing this on people," he said. "We're trying to help them do what they want to do already."

Wilson, who was visiting her father at Deaconess, said she has tried to quit a dozen times, and restricting where she can light up probably won't help her succeed.

"It's our choice to smoke. I don't feel like I'm harming anybody," she said. "I think there's things the government needs to work on other than smokers."

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To see more of the Billings Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.billingsgazette.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, Billings Gazette, Mont.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Billings Gazette, Billings, Montana

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