Logan Regional Hospital implements tobacco-free campus policy September 1

(Logan, UT) August 26, 2009.  Effective September 1, 2009, the Logan Regional Hospital campus will be 100 percent tobacco free.  Smoking and the use of tobacco products will be prohibited on the entire campus.  This includes Logan Regional Hospital, the Regional Medical Arts Building, the Budge Clinic, all buildings, parking lots, and grounds. Previously, smoking has been prohibited within 25 feet of the hospital.

“Logan Regional Hospital is a place of healing. “An important part of our mission is to encourage and model healthy behaviors and to assist in the protection of the health and safety of our patients, employees, physicians, volunteers, and guests,” says Bob Cash, administrator. “Providing a tobacco-free campus is fundamental to the health of the community residents we serve.  Our tobacco-free policy helps promote a healthier environment where healing can take place.”

The majority of U.S. hospitals currently have tobacco-free campus policies in effect, according to a study by The Joint Commission, a major hospital national hospital accreditation organization, as reported in the August 2009 issue of Medical News Today. The study showed that of more than 1,900 hospitals nationwide accredited by The Joint Commission, 60 percent have tobacco-free policies in effect this year.  At each of these hospitals, the use of tobacco products is completely prohibited anywhere in the hospital or on the grounds or parking lots.

More than 1,100 Utahns die each year from tobacco-related causes, according to Utah Department of Health statistics. Studies confirm the dangers of second-hand and third-hand smoke. A recent U.S. Surgeon General Report concluded there is no safe level of secondhand smoke — smoke left in the air by tobacco users and breathed by others around them — so any encounter with tobacco smoke poses a health risk. In addition, a recent study by the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston also affirms the danger to infants and children caused by third-hand smoke — the residue of particles that cling to smokers’ hair and clothing and that may be transferred to cushions and carpeting. This residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens, and radioactive materials that children can get on their hands and ingest.

Logan Regional will provide tobacco counseling for hospital patients who smoke.  The hospital also supports tobacco-cessation programs in the community.  A list of tobacco-cessation resources and programs is available through the hospital Education Center, 435-716.5310.