RUMFORD – Rumford Hospital has decided to go smoke free and has chosen as Nov. 20, Great American Smoke Out Day, to make the grounds of all the hospital properties tobacco free.

More than half of Maine’s 39 hospitals have already created tobacco-free campuses, and several more have plans to do so.

“Health-care workers play a significant role as models of healthy practices for their communities,” notes John Welsh, Rumford Hospital chief executive officer. “Becoming a tobacco free campus demonstrates how seriously Rumford Hospital takes its responsibility as a community health leader.”

All Rumford Hospital affiliated facilities, including Swift River Health Care, Elsemore Dixfield Center, Rumford Community Home and the VA clinic, have been smoke-free inside the buildings for several years. Now the use of tobacco products will be banned on the grounds surrounding them, as well.

“We hope that by taking this stand to ensure a healthy, safe environment we can help our community understand the positive impact that a tobacco-free environment has on health,” says Welsh.

For hospital employees who decide to quit smoking, “Quit Kits,” supplied by Project NOW, are available. NOW will offer quit-smoking classes at the hospital again in November. These classes offer social support and strategies for quitting to the public as well as health-care workers. “Making our campuses tobacco free should help employees who decide to quit to be successful,” Welsh explains.