Fifteen years ago, smoking was banned inside

the hospital.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Rumford Hospital will join more than 20 other Maine hospitals by becoming smokefree next month.

The change will take place Nov. 20, the date of the Great American Smokeout.

Deb Gorham, clinical coordinator at the hospital, said the ban on smoking for employees, visitors and patients applies to the parking lots, vehicles and outdoor areas of the hospital, Swift River Healthcare, the Rumford Veterans Clinic, and the Elsemore/Dixfield Clinic. Rumford Community Home, which is also associated with the hospital, will not go smokefree at this time because it serves as home for its residents.

The decision to go smokefree was made by the hospital’s Wellness Committee, which determined that a smoking prohibition was the No. 1 priority.

Smoking was banned inside the hospital about 15 years ago. At that time, a so-called smoke shack was built at the rear of the facility that allows employees and visitors to take smoke breaks. That tiny building will be torn down Nov. 19.

With the new smokefree policy going into place, Gorham said Rumford Hospital becomes the first campus of the Central Maine Medical Family to launch the ban.

The reasons for going smokefree are many, she said.

“Rumford Hospital plays a leadership role in the community, to model healthy behaviors,” she said. “Patients have seen their medical care workers still smoking when they’ve been told to stop.”

Beyond serving as role models, Gorham said the smoking ban will go into effect so that secondhand smoke won’t contaminate employees and patients. The smoking area outside is near the ventilation system that sometimes allows smoke into the building.

She estimates that less than 5 percent of the hospital’s employees smoke.

Signs will be posted in the parking lots and at the entrances to each of the medical facilities announcing the smokefree policy.

The hospital is the site of ongoing smoking cessation classes. Six have been offered so far this year for employees and anyone else in the community who wants to participate. A seventh, four-class session to take place over a three-week period begins Nov. 13.

Gorham said the hospital is being supportive of employees who still smoke. Opportunities are available for employees to try to quit smoking, and the attitude is one of support rather than offensiveness, she said.

A celebration of the smokefree campus begins Nov. 19 when the smoke shack is torn down.

“We’ll have events to take the edge off not smoking. We’ll urge people who work with smokers to be supportive,” she said.

Information on the smokefree policy is available to anyone from the switchboard and emergency room at the hospital.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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