|
Halifax Regional to Become a Tobacco-free Campus
ROANOKE RAPIDS, NC – (February 27, 2007) – On October 15, Halifax Regional will join 60 medical facilities in North Carolina that currently have a tobacco-free campus. The Board of Directors and the administration are supporting the Tobacco-free Committee in its recommendation to ban all forms of tobacco use on the Medical Center campus. The October 15th date was chosen to coincide with the Medical Center’s 35th anniversary. The ban on tobacco will apply to all Medical Center employees, patients and visitors. The ban will be extended to include all of the Medical Center’s satellite campuses, including the Roanoke Clinic, Halifax Physical Therapy, the Roanoke Valley Medical Ministries Clinic and Wildwood Medical Center in Henrico. “The health risks of using tobacco and second-hand smoke have been proven without a doubt,” said Dr. N.C. Sekaran. “As an organization devoted to a healthy community, Halifax Regional must set an example with a tobacco-free campus.” Halifax Regional’s facilities have been smoke-free inside the buildings since 1997. Beginning October 15, the policy will apply to the entire campus. Several members of the Tobacco -free Committee understand the difficulty of quitting tobacco. Several members are current smokers. Other members have the addiction. “Trying to stop smoking is a very difficult thing to do,” said Bruce Robistow, Committee Chairman, “I was smoking three packs a day when I decided to quit. There is support for those who need it and quitting is possible.” The main objective of the initiative is to enable the Medical Center to set a good example of healthy living in the community. “I hope other businesses in the community will follow our lead,” said Robistow. Currently, patients who smoke receive a consultation about the health risks associated with smoking and receive information on how to break the habit. Cigarette smoking accounts for nearly 440,000 deaths annually, and about 40,000 people die from heart and blood vessel disease caused by other people’s smoke each year according to the American Heart Association.
|