Stop Smoking ... Breathe Easy
To all Partners In Caring,
On January 1, 2006, Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital became a tobacco-free environment. Acknowledging the inconsistency between advising on the health hazards of tobacco use and allowing its use on hospital grounds, we have taken a stronger position by prohibiting tobacco use by anyone – employees, volunteers, medical staff, contract staff, vendors, patients and visitors – on our campuses, including the parking lots, or in a facility-owned vehicle.
While we are excited to be taking this step in promoting a healthier lifestyle for the residents of Jefferson County, we recognize that the transitional stages may be difficult. Many members of our community use tobacco products and restricting its use while on our grounds will certainly present a challenge. We will hear questions and, no doubt, complaints from patients and visitors. We will provide visitors and patients with information to help you with those questions and will have a standardized order form for use in prescribing tobacco replacement products for your patients.
The relationship we share with you and your staff is important to us. We appreciate the efforts you will make to honor our tobacco-free environment and are asking that you support hospital policies at all times.
We welcome your suggestions. Please speak with members of our Tobacco-Free Task Force or provide input through my office. This is just one more step in our quest for quality healthcare and I would personally like to thank each and every one of you for the roles you play every day in the health of our community.
Sincerely,
David N. Parmer
Chief Executive Officer
Guy Goodson, Mayor
City of Beaumont
P. O. Box 3827
Beaumont, Texas 77704-3827
Dear Mayor Goodson,
On January 1, 2006, Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital was proud to become a tobacco-free environment. Acknowledging the inconsistency between advising on the health hazards of tobacco use and allowing its use on hospital grounds, we have taken a strong position by prohibiting tobacco use by anyone – employees, volunteers, medical staff, contract staff, vendors, patients and visitors – on our campuses, including the parking lots, or in a facility-owned vehicle.
As an active member of this community, we are excited that the City of Beaumont is considering taking a similar position to promote a healthier lifestyle for the residents of our city. We recognize that the transitional stages will be difficult - many citizens of Beaumont use tobacco products and restricting its use while on public grounds will present a challenge. You will hear questions and, no doubt, comments from members of our community. Please allow us to be a healthcare resource to you and the members of your team for any medical information you feel will benefit your decision.
This is just one more step in our quest for a healthier Beaumont and I would personally like to thank each and every one of you for the roles you are prepared to play in the health of our community.
Sincerely,
David N. Parmer
Chief Executive Officer
Beaumont Enterprise
November 16, 2005
“Igniting a Debate – Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital to be smoke free as city looks at idea again.”
By: Sherry Koonce – The Enterprise
If James Dean were alive today, he might think twice about his two-packs-a-day cigarette habit. Instead of defining a lexicon of coolness for an entire generation with a cigarette dangling provocatively from his lips, the rebel actor might have a cause – to be the 74-year old poster boy for a new perspective on the dangers of breathing secondhand smoke.
An ordinance to ban smoking in public buildings is expected to come before Beaumont’s city council as early as January. If passed, Beaumont would join a growing list of cities that are listening to the sensitivities of non-smokers.
Plans are also under way for Memorial Hermann Baptist Beaumont Hospital to become a smoke-free campus by January 1, said Mary Poole, hospital spokesperson. Patients, visitors, and hospital employees no longer will be able to smoke – anywhere on the premises, inside or out. Until then, the Julie & Ben Rogers Cancer Institute and the hospital’s respiratory care department will provide employees education and cessation programs.
“It’s a big step. We go in there and preach to our patients about how unhealthy it is to smoke, so now it is time for the hospital to truly become a smoke-free environment,” Poole said.
At this time, Memorial Hermann Baptist Orange Hospital has no plans of becoming a completely smoke-free campus, Poole said. Patients, visitors and employees will still be able to smoke outside in designated areas.
Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont doesn’t plan to prohibit smokers from lighting up in designated outside areas either, said Jill Fontenot, director of marketing and communications. The hospital does not allow smoking inside the building.
In Dean’s heyday, just 50 years ago, smoking was embraced – even glamorized and touted as a remedy for strained nerves and excessive appetites. But today, as non-smokers claim their right to breathe air free from second-hand smoke, public places where smokers can light up are becoming scarce, if not non-existent.
“We are not attempting on a city-wide basis to prevent smoking; you can’t legislate that. But, we are attempting to limit the risk of health issues of second-hand smoke,” said, Dr. Joe Finley, a long-time Beaumont family practitioner.
Finley is one of about five local physicians along with the Jefferson County Medical Society, who have asked the city to consider passing a clean indoor city ordinance.
If passed, local restaurants will most likely be affected, Rich Courville, president of the Sabine Area Restaurant Association, said during a telephone interview.
Though Courville’s Beaumont business, Courville’s Restaurant and Catering, is smoke-free, many other area restaurants still provide a place for smokers to light up.
Courville conducted an informal poll among his customers to gauge public’s reaction to the possible city ordinance. “I did an impromptu survey and asked people on my own what they thought. Most said that if the food was good, they could go an hour or so without smoking,” Courville said.
Carla Tamayo, 46, of Beaumont, and her husband, Jesse Tamayo, 47, are frequent diners at one of their favorite restaurants, The Monterrey House on 11th Street in Beaumont which is a smoke-free facility. “It doesn’t bother me, when we walk out we can smoke, or we can smoke before we go inside,” Carla Tamayo said. “It doesn’t matter; we are looking for good food.
Not all restaurant managers are as sure their customers will embrace a smoke-free ordinance. Aaron St. Aubi, general manager of Madison’s, 4020 Dowlen Road in Beaumont, said a smoke-free ordinance would hurt the business. Madison’s, which has a dining area and a bar, would be negatively impacted since many customers are smokers, St. Aubin said. “I would say we have somewhere around 30 percent of our customers who are smokers,” St. Aubin said. Even though the restaurant has high ceilings and eight smoke-eater machines have been installed to help keep the air free from secondhand smoke, St. Aubin worried that his customers might find another place to shoot pool or have a few drinks if the provision is passed. If adopted, Beaumont would join the ranks of numerous other texas cities that have already instated similar smoke-free measures including Dallas, Harlingen, Copperas Cove, Austin, El Paso, and Bryan-College Station, among others. The city of Galveston is currently looking at an ordinance that would prohibit smoking in restaurants.
City Manager Kyle Hayes said the city’s plans to draft some type of smoke-free ordinance were delayed because of Hurricane Rita, but are now back on track and could be ready for Council to consider in a work session as early as January. Council will be presented information for several options. They could ban smoking in all public buildings, in restaurants and work places, or decide to include drinking establishments, pool halls and bowling alleys in the ordinance. “We will bring this to a work session and throw out several different alternatives and then Council will make decisions on how to proceed,” Hayes said. If Council decides some type of smoke-free ordinance is in the public’s best interest, a public hearing most likely will be scheduled.
The city of Port Arthur has asked members of the Jefferson County Medical Society to come and speak to its Council about the merits of providing a smoke-free environment in public buildings, Finley said.
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