St. Rose Dominican Hospitals bans smoking outright

By Jeremy Twitchell

Saturday, May 9, 2009 | 6:32 p.m.

Beginning July 1, the smoking ban inside St. Rose Dominican Hospitals’ three campuses in Henderson and Las Vegas will extend to hospital grounds as well.

The ban will mean that nobody — patient, employee or visitor — will be able to smoke outside the hospitals, in the parking lots or on any other hospital-owned property. It will apply to the hospital system’s other facilities and offices as well.

“Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States,” St. Rose spokesman Andy North said. “From a health care provider standpoint, it makes sense to do something that will help eliminate or reduce preventable deaths.”

The ban has more immediate benefits as well, North said. The hospitals have had problems with patients sneaking out for a cigarette, which can interfere with their treatment. Preventing patients from smoking while at the hospital, North said, will eliminate the risk of drug interactions with tobacco and improve St. Rose’s ability to treat patients.

“It’s difficult if a patient continues to smoke while being treated for us to maintain a healthy environment and provide proper care,” he said. “The goal is to provide a more healthy environment for all our users — our staff and our patients.”

To aid with the transition, North said, the hospital system will make tobacco supplement lozenges available to hospital staff and in the hospitals’ gift shops. St. Rose is also offering free smoking cessation courses for staff and continues to offer the courses to the community.

North said the unions that represent hospital staff are on board with the change. Calls to the Service Employees International Union and California Nurses’ Association, which represent St. Rose employees, were not immediately returned.

Centennial Hills Hospital became the first Nevada hospital to entirely ban smoking on its campus when it opened last year.

A spokeswoman at University Medical Center said the hospital has no plans to switch to a smoke-free campus.