Nancy Thickel, spokeswoman for Miami Valley Hospital, said, “Our mission is to encourage good health.”
Thickel said Premier’s new policy goes well beyond Ohio’s indoor smoking ban. It bans any tobacco product anywhere on the grounds of a hospital and includes employees, doctors, patients and visitors.
As a huge health-based organization, officials at Premier said they do not want visitors or patients walking through second-hand smoke or having allergies and asthma aggravated anywhere on its grounds.
The new policy applies to parking garages, sidewalks inside the hospital campus and on the exterior on all Premier facilities. To prepare everyone for the change, brochures have been handed out letting people know that July 4 will be independence smoking day.
Officials at Miami Valley Hospital said a number of their 5,500 employees will have to make big adjustments to the new policy .
Premier’s new smoking policy is still not as strict as the Cleveland Clinic. The hospital is planning to ban the hiring of any smoker starting on Sept. 1.