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November 25, 2010St. Anne General Hospital in Raceland will join other facilities in the Ochsner Health System and have a completely tobacco-free campus beginning April 1, 2011.
As part of a Living the Legacy initiative, Ochsner facilities will no longer offer designated smoking areas or ashtrays on their properties.
“Over the next five months we will begin the education process of implementing our tobacco free initiative at all eight Ochsner medical centers and our area health centers,” said Senior Vice President of Human Resources Joan Mollohan in a press release. “On April 1 the use of all tobacco products will be prohibited on any Ochsner Health System campus by all employees, patients and visitors.”
The tobacco ban includes cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and all other tobacco-related products. “We care about our employees’ health and the impact to the health of the community,” Mollohan said.
In 1939, Dr. Alton Ochsner, one of the health system’s founders and namesake of the properties, discovered a link between tobacco use and lung cancer. The remainder of his career was dedicated to warning the public about the health risks associated with smoking.
“By prohibiting tobacco use at and around our facilities, we are not only living the legacy but also insuring that our patients have the most healing, safe environment possible,” said Dr. Patrick Quinlan, CEO of the Ochsner Health System.
Quinlin offered a challenge to other health care facilities to join in the effort to end tobacco use.
Ochsner officials said that they would offer programs to employees to help them stop smoking. Free smoking cessation classes will also be offered to the public.
