Your collective smoking policy

Regarding smoking in your facility:

Comments: -It’s inexcusable to allow smoking anywhere near an environment that is affiliated with promoting health.

-Employees are allowed to smoke outdoors in a designated area only.

-All residents are banned but employees may smoke in a designated area outside the facility.

-I have worked in a couple of different facilities that have banned smoking and what happened was people found an area off of premises to smoke and it did not decrease the numbers of smokers. But it increased dissatisfaction with the job.

-As a former smoker myself, I don’t get on the soapbox with any smoker. Everyone who smokes makes that choice, fully informed of the serious health hazards associated with smoking. Children in grade school learn at a very early age about the dangers of smoking so there are no excuses. Our facility is a "smoke-free" facility, i.e. residents are not allowed to smoke in the facility and there are no designated smoking areas. The staff has a smoking area behind the building. Residents are informed PRIOR to admission that we are a non-smoking facility but … when they arrive they come fully equipped with their cigarettes and lighters! Most of the short-term, sub-acute patients are not interested in any smoking cessation programs and insist upon their right to smoke. OT evaluates those residents as to whether or not they are able to smoke independently and follow safe smoking practices, including utilization of a "smoking apron". Those that are deemed independent must smoke outside the building, regardless of season or weather and staff monitors to ensure that they are dressed appropriately for the weather. For those folks not able to smoke safely on their own, SW notifies their families and the families become responsible to taking their loved ones out for a smoke. Staff does NOT take the residents out to smoke.

-The residents can; it is their home, but it must be outside.

-We have banned residents. Employees are still allowed to smoke 25 feet from the building in a smoking canopy we have in the back lot.

-We do offer an area on the grounds but outside the facility for resident, staff, and visitor smoking.

-No smoking is allowed in the HS departments. Employees can smoke at outside designated areas.

-All smoking is done outside in separate employee and resident areas.

Click here to read Kathleen Mears' resident perspective on facility smoking policies.