TAMC recognized for being tobacco-free
Staff Writer
AUGUSTA – The Aroostook Medical Center was recently lauded for being a tobacco-free campus.
The Maine Tobacco-Free Hospital Network (MTFHN), in collaboration with the Partnership For A Tobacco-Free Maine, honored TAMC March 24 at an awards ceremony where the hospital was named a Gold Star award recipient in the network’s Gold Star Standards of Excellence Recognition Program.
All hospitals in Maine had the opportunity to apply for the Gold Star Standards of Excellence awards at the gold, silver, and bronze levels.
“The program, which gives hospitals an opportunity to show their efforts for maintaining a tobacco-free environment, has a 10-point standard of excellence criteria that hospitals need to meet in order to receive Gold Star status,” said Darcy Kinney, community education coordinator at TAMC. “We met all requirements and their standards.”
The 10 Point Policy Plan includes:
1) The hospital campus is tobacco and/or smoke-free. Tobacco use by staff, patients, and visitors is prohibited at all times – in and on the hospital’s property – including parking lots, in cars, and at satellite sites. (“Tobacco-free” includes smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew, cigars, pipes, etc.).
2) Written policies and procedures that communicate and reinforce such policies on tobacco exist and are reviewed at least annually and as needed.
3) Appropriate signage is posted at key locations including entrances to the grounds and buildings.
4) Information about tobacco use and treatment, secondhand smoke, and local and statewide resources are readily available to patients, staff, and visitors.
5) Advertising or promotion of tobacco products is not allowed on the hospital’s campus or satellite facilities. This includes hospital publications and magazines subscribed to by the hospital for their waiting rooms.
“If any magazines have tobacco advertising,” said Kinney, “we will either remove that page or remove the publication. We monitor that very closely.”
6) All off-site meetings, conferences, and fund-raisers are tobacco-free.
“This is something new that we incorporated in our policy within the last year,” Kinney said. “Any events that we hold off-campus are tobacco-free. We don’t want tobacco associated with our name whether it be on or off-campus.”
7) Clinical services are available for any patient needing/desiring assistance for nicotine withdrawal symptoms and/or quitting, including evidence-based medications.
“We have an inpatient respiratory therapist that does interventions with people that are admitted,” said Kinney. “We also have a community program set up that our staff or the community can attend, and all of these are free resources.”
8) The hospital supports education and training on tobacco use and treatment for employees.
“We regularly send employees to get up-to-date education on new treatments, medications … just how to work with people to quit smoking,” Kinney said.
9) Tobacco treatment services are available for employees. For insured employees and dependents, benefits include coverage of counseling and medication therapy for quitting tobacco, with minimal, or no, barriers to utilization (co-pays, out-of-pocket costs, limits).
10) The hospital refuses all donations from the tobacco industry, and divests itself of all tobacco company stock.
At the awards ceremony, Steven Michaud, president of the Maine Hospital Association, congratulated the hospitals for receiving gold, silver or bronze recognition.
“The hospitals that are being recognized today are displaying model tobacco-free policies and setting the standard for other hospitals throughout the state and nation,” he said. “The Maine Hospital Association is proud to be part of this initiative.”
“As leaders in health care, Maine hospitals seek to optimize the health of patients and the surrounding community. They provide key community support and are exemplary role models in health care excellence,” said Anne Tricomi, MTFHN representative. “Tobacco-free campus policies are examples of this commitment as they benefit patients, employees, and the entire community. The Maine Tobacco-Free Hospital Network, an initiative of the Breathe Easy Coalition of Maine, wants to recognize those hospitals that have worked hard to make their campuses 100 percent tobacco-free environments.”
Carol Coles from the Partnership for a Tobacco-Free Maine (PTM), noted that PTM is pleased to be involved in an event and process that “demonstrates the strong commitment that our Maine hospitals have toward the health of not only its patients and staff, but their families and the community as a whole.”
“Thank you again for your support of tobacco-free initiatives and policies and for your participation in our event today,” said Coles. “We applaud you and your efforts for creating the high standards of excellence that will serve as models for other hospitals throughout the state.”
TAMC was the only hospital in Aroostook County to be recognized.
DARCY KINNEY, community education coordinator at The Aroostook Medical Center, proudly displays the plaque the hospital recently received for being named a Gold Star award recipient in the Maine Tobacco-Free Hospital Network’s Gold Star Standards of Excellence Recognition Program. TAMC was the only hospital in Aroostook County to be recognized.
“We set a goal that this was something that we wanted to achieve and we have worked a little over a year to make the necessary changes,” said Kinney. “It’s our job in the health care industry to optimize the health of the patients in the surrounding communities by showing our commitment and maintaining this healthy environment to protect our employees, patients and visitors from secondhand smoke. It’s important to us.”
The Surgeon General stated in a 2006 report that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, and 40 carcinogens. Secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths among nonsmokers in the United States each year.
Hospitals in Farmington, Damariscotta, Portland, Brunswick and Westbrook were also named Gold Star award winners.
For more information about the Maine Tobacco Free Hospital Network, visit the organization’s Web site at www.mainetobaccofreehospitalnetwork.org.
