LGH Smoke-Free Premises campaign kicks off tomorrow
Since 2008, Lions Gate Hospital and all Vancouver Coastal Health sites have had a Smoke-Free Premises Policy that bans smoking in all buildings, grounds, and parking lots. That said, in a recent audit, hundreds of cigarette butts were found littering the Lions Gate Hospital campus, a sign that there’s room for improvement around awareness and compliance with the policy.
It all started in Mental Health & Addictions
What better place to launch a pilot of the enhanced policy than the floor with one of the highest smoking rates? In preparation for the transition to the new HOpe Centre, LGH MH&A staff enhanced implementation of the Smoke-Free Premises Policy by putting in place best practices including:
- screening all admitted patients for tobacco use
- safeguarding all tobacco products and ignition sources until patients go home
- providing therapeutic dosing of nicotine replacement therapy, and
- offering tobacco cessation education and counselling for patients.
To date, the enhancements have been well received by patients and staff.
Campaign launches at LGH tomorrow
Tomorrow (Nov. 28) marks the official launch day of the new awareness and education campaign. In preparation for the launch, members of the Senior Leadership Team, Aramark and Paladin Security have begun conducting weekly walkabouts throughout the campus to gently remind people who are smoking on the grounds that they’re actually in contravention of the policy to move offsite.
In the coming weeks, staff, patients, and visitors will see new billboards and posters throughout the campus reminding them that second-hand smoke hurts others and that LGH is a smoke-free campus.
Smoke-Free Premises Working Committee
Members of the LGH Smoke Free Premises Working Group include: William Findlay; Lindsay MacDonald, Leanne Appleton, Dr. Mark Lyshyshn, Christopher Nock, Ernest Wu, Tiffany Trownson & Leisa Goddard.
Members of the LGH Smoke Free Premises Working Group include: William Finley; Lindsay MacDonald, Leanne Appleton, Mark Lyshyshn, Christopher Nock, Ernest Wu, Tiffany Trownson & Leisa Goddard.