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Home News Knoxville area hospitals to become tobacco-free workplaces

Knoxville area hospitals to become tobacco-free workplaces

Published: Wednesday, January 27, 2010

From left to right: Joseph R. Landsman, Jr., President and CEO, The University of Tennessee Medical Center; Anthony L. Spezia, President and CEO, Covenant Health; Jane Nelson, Assistant Administrator, Blount Memorial Hospital; Keith Goodwin, President and CEO, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital; and Jeff Ashin, President, Mercy Health Partners, St. Mary’s.

 

Local healthcare systems work together to achieve goal by January 1, 2011

In an effort to encourage healthier lifestyles for the entire community, Knoxville area hospitals will become tobacco-free workplaces by Jan. 1, 2011, executives with the five major health systems in the region announced. The announcement, made Wednesday at the Knox County Health Department, included representatives from Blount Memorial Hospital, Covenant Health, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, Mercy Health Partners and The University of Tennessee Medical Center.

“As we continually work to provide outstanding patient care for those in our region, we also must recognize the importance of providing an environment that promotes good health for our employees and the community,” said Joseph R. Landsman, Jr., President and CEO of The University of Tennessee Medical Center. “We recognize the issues and challenges involving the use of tobacco in this community and believe that implementing a tobacco-free workplace policy for the area’s hospitals is a great step toward promoting healthy lifestyles and encouraging smoking cessation.”

The tobacco-free workplace policy applies to all of the hospitals throughout East Tennessee operated by the five health systems.

"Blount Memorial Hospital is adopting a tobacco-free workplace policy to provide a healthy and safe environment for employees, patients, and visitors, and to promote postive health behaviors,” said Joe Dawson, administrator of Blount Memorial Hospital. “This decision and participation in the joint effort fits well with the hospital's vision and mission to continuously improve the health and well-being of our entire community and to work in partnership with others who share the core values of Blount Memorial."

Tennessee has the sixth highest percentage of smokers and the 14th highest percentage of smokeless tobacco product users, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Each health system will implement its own individual set of policies related to tobacco usage, which means there may be some slight differences at various facilities. But health system representatives stress that the one major component of the new tobacco-free workplace measure is that no employee will be allowed to smoke or use tobacco products while on campus at any of the hospitals operated by the five health systems. The decision to wait until 2011 for the policy to take effect is intended to give employees who smoke plenty of encouragement and time to quit the habit, as each health system will offer smoking cessation programs to employees throughout 2010.

"Mercy Health Partners is committed to helping the people of East Tennessee adopt a healthier lifestyle to reduce chronic health problems," said David Jimenez, Mercy Health Partners CEO. "As the health systems in Knoxville are among the largest employers in the area, this joint announcement shows that we are serious about attempting to lower the smoking rate in this community. Smoking represents one of the most significant health risks today, and Mercy will provide our associates with the help and assistance they need to be tobacco-free at our facilities in Knox County."

The announcement comes after years of discussion amongst the area health system CEOs about tobacco usage on their campuses. Under the guidance of the CEOs, human resources executives from each health system met numerous times throughout 2009 to address the issue. The hospital leaders believe the tobacco-free workplace concept can lead to critical education to all members of the community regarding the health risks associated with smoking and tobacco usage.

“As a healthcare facility that solely focuses on children, we have an obligation to the patients and families we serve to provide an atmosphere of care that is optimum in every way,” said Keith Goodwin, President and CEO of East Tennessee Children’s Hospital. “Children’s Hospital believes this extends to our patients’ caregivers and their personal commitment to their own health as part of our vision statement: Leading the Way to Healthy Children. Children’s Hospital has been aggressive in the past year expanding wellness initiatives that will make a difference in our employees’ health, and our administration believes this smoke-free policy for employees is a key to wellness for every man, woman and child that visits, is treated at or works in our facility.”

According to the CDC, more than 443,000 Americans die each year due to tobacco-related diseases. Additionally, smoking costs the United States economy more than $193 billion each year, divided between healthcare costs and lost productivity. 

“The Knoxville area hospitals are working together on this initiative because the evidence is compelling and the message is clear: A tobacco-free workplace promotes better health, and better health is the shared goal of every hospital in this area,” said Anthony L. Spezia, President and CEO of Covenant Health. “This is a great step forward on behalf of all the healthcare professionals in our area.”

The health system CEOs say that as the implementation date of the tobacco-free workplace policy approaches they will continue to meet as a group to monitor progress and to consider any further actions or policies related to tobacco usage on their campuses that could promote better health for the patients and families they serve.