For anti-smoking advocates at the University of Texas, a breath of fresh air could be on the way. UT administrators announced Thursday they are considering making the entire campus tobacco-free. The university already bans smoking in dorms, classrooms and other indoor areas. A new policy could expand the ban to include sidewalks and parking garages. Officials are considering the change after a major grant donor, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, decided earlier this month that all grant recipients would be required to maintain tobacco-free campuses.

UT has received about $30 million from the institute and hopes for an additional $88 million in research funding, Adrienne Howarth-Moore , UT’s director of human resource services, said Thursday. To receive additional institute funds, UT must be tobacco-free by March 1.

“As a premier research institution, UT considers cancer research to be vital to our core mission and our goal to help save lives and enhance public health,” the university said in an email Thursday afternoon. In the email, which was attributed to Pat Clubb, vice president for university operations, and Juan Sanchez, vice president for research, officials said UT is “currently working to evaluate and adapt its current ‘No Smoking’ policy, which will ultimately preserve tens of millions of dollars in funding for cancer research.”

UT spokesman Gary Susswein said talks among faculty, administrators and students about the change could begin as early as today.

Matt Haviland, a junior at UT and the president of Texas Public Health, an undergraduate advocacy organization, said he has been working for nearly a year with administrators, pushing for a tougher tobacco-free policy. Haviland said he’s pleased with Thursday’s announcement but is surprised that it happened so quickly.

“I’m happy this actually happened within my time here at the university. I expected it to take several years,” said Haviland, 20. “It was coming one way or another, but the fact that it happened sooner is better. I would have liked for it to come … without outside influence. But in the end, it’s definitely good for our campus.”

Howarth-Moore said any enforcement strategy will center on education, not wrist-slapping. That could include posting signs that designate tobacco-free zones and cultivating a culture in which students and faculty will encourage their peers to abide by the rules, she said.

She did not foresee any situation where violators would incur punishments such as fines. UT already offers free smoking-cessation classes and other initiatives to help members of the university community quit.

“We’re looking at a cooperative environment for compliance,” she said.

Last spring, university President William Powers Jr. said he opposed a campuswide ban on smoking, saying a complete ban would overstep the university’s limits, according to reports in the Daily Texan, the school’s newspaper.

Howarth-Moore said the university does not want to alienate students who are also smokers if a tobacco-free policy is implemented.

“We do value diverse thoughts,” she said. “And for those who have chosen to not be tobacco-free, we want to make sure they still feel valued in the community.”

Borders, of Alexandria, spoke to the sixth-grade class of Weaver Elementary on Jan. 30. Borders, a freshman majoring in exercise science, plays third base and still finds time to give back to the community. Borders discussed the importance of living a healthy, tobacco-free lifestyle and working toward smoke-free communities. She volunteers her time for this tobacco-free Gamecocks campaign because she feels people admire athletes and look to them to make healthy decisions.

“Tobacco and sports just don’t mix. It’s unhealthy and I need a healthy body for my athletic abilities. I believe in working toward smoke-free communities. With smoking, you’re not just affecting yourself; you’re hurting everyone around you,” said Borders.

Read more: Anniston Star – JSU Tobacco Free Gamecock

When students return to the University of Maine at Farmington campus this week, they’ll find that a new tobacco-free policy aimed at promoting health and wellness began this month. “UMF is committed to promoting a healthy environment for our students, faculty, staff and community,” UMF President Theodora J. Kalikow said. “This new policy is a positive step in helping to reduce health risks and encouraging healthy lifestyle choices.”

UMF’s new policy is based on the international consensus of medical authorities that smoking, secondhand smoke and tertiary residue from smoking are harmful to an individual’s health. Tertiary tobacco smoke residue clings to the clothing of smokers.

The tobacco-free policy covers all tobacco products, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco and non-FDA approved nicotine delivery devices, such as e-cigarettes. It applies to the entire campus, including athletic fields and parking lots.

This initiative was born of the committed work of the UMF Tobacco Task Force, a group of faculty, staff and students who joined forces in 2005 to help limit the campus community’s exposure to secondhand smoke. They began working in earnest on the development of a smoke-free policy for the campus in 2007.

Prior to that, UMF smoking policies complied with all Maine laws prohibiting smoking in university buildings and in outside areas of the campus where nonsmokers might be exposed to smoke. A smoke-free corridor was created on the UMF campus in 2002, in addition to smoke-free areas, including handicapped entrances and UMF-owned vehicles.

To support the UMF community’s transition to the new tobacco-free environment, the university is making smoking-cessation guidance available through the UMF Health Center. For additional assistance, UMF is making connections available to resources such as the Healthy Community Coalition, Healthy Maine Partnerships (Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention), Partnerships for a Tobacco-Free Maine and the Maine Tobacco Free College Network.

New signs have been posted in all campus buildings to remind employees, students and visitors of their responsibility to maintain a tobacco-free environment.

The University of Maine in Orono initiated a similar tobacco-free policy in 2011.

Missouri Delta Medical Center has made its own New Year’s resolution: to be tobacco-free.
“Beginning Aug. 1, 2012, Missouri Delta Medical Center will adopt a tobacco-free campus as a health and wellness initiative,” said Jason Schrumpf, president of Missouri Delta. “This policy is designed to preserve the health of our employees, patients, visitors and volunteers along with fulfilling the hospital’s mission of promoting the general health of our community.”

Smoking is a health and safety hazard both to tobacco users and nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke, carrying very serious health risks, Schrumpf said.

He noted tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the U.S. and that Missouri ranks third in adult smoking rates in the nation. Nearly 10,000 Missourians die from tobacco-related illnesses ever year. Annual health costs from tobacco use are estimated at $1.96 billion statewide with the lost productivity estimated at $2.34 billion.

“Hospitals in our region and across the state are working to decrease such statistics,” said Sharon Urhahn, director of marketing for Missouri Delta. “Going tobacco-free is a growing trend among hospitals nationwide.”

In an effort to be sensitive to the difficulty of quitting tobacco due to the addictive nature of nicotine, Missouri Delta is providing ample time for people to prepare for the change. Hospital staff were notified at the beginning of the month that the policy would go into effect this year.

“We’re doing a lot of education for our employees, providing a lot of resources for them to help them either quit smoking or learn to cope with not smoking while at work,” Urhahn said. “It’s going to be a gradual process.”

Right now, tobacco products are only allowed in a designated area, Urhahn said.

The designated smoking area is a semi-enclosed booth located in the parking lot by the emergency room entrance.

“We are still accumulating suggestions on what to do with the area once we become tobacco-free,” Urhahn said. “But as of Aug. 1, there will be no smoking on the campus at all.”

The policy not only applies to all forms of smoking tobacco and to chewing tobacco and snuff.

“No smoking, no dipping — nothing involving tobacco,” Urhahn said.

By campus, hospital officials mean all properties owned or leased by Missouri Delta — inside and outside — including vehicles. The policy even prohibits smoking and the use of tobacco inside personal vehicles while they are on the hospital’s parking lots.

“To smoke in their vehicle, they would have to leave campus,” Urhahn said.

“I know I need to quit and this will probably help me quit,” said Shirley Redfering of East Prairie, Mo., a lab technician for the hospital. “It’s going to make my husband very happy because he doesn’t smoke.”

The policy will be in place not only for employees but also for patients, visitors, volunteers, students, contractors, sales representatives and anyone else who works on or visits hospital properties.

“It is in effect for everybody, so we hope that people will adhere to the new policy,” Urhahn said.

The University of Arizona’s network of hospitals an clinics is going completely smoke-free — outdoors as well as inside — beginning Jan. 1. The UA Health Network’s new tobacco-free policy affects the University of Arizona Medical Center – University Campus (that’s UMC to those not used to the new name), the University of Arizona Medical Center – South Campus and dozens of clinics across Tucson and Southern Arizona. Although smoking has been prohibited inside the hospitals for many years, smoking was permitted in designated outside areas. These outdoor shelters will be removed by Jan. 1, UAMC’s Katie Riley said in a press release.

To ease the transition to a tobacco-free environment, The University of Arizona Health Network is offering free smoking-cessation treatment to its nearly 7,000 employees and to their dependents, Riley said.

Patients will receive counseling and medications to control their nicotine cravings, and visitors to the hospitals who smoke will be offered free nicotine-replacement gum.

“It’s all about creating an environment of wellness” John Marques, chief human resources officer for the Health Network, said in the release. “We are a health-care institution and it’s clear that smoking and smoking-related illnesses are among the leading causes of death in this country. It makes sense for us to promote a healthy, tobacco-free environment for our staff, patients and their families.”

“We recognize that this new policy may be hard on some patients and family members who smoke, especially those who are hospitalized here for long stretches of time,” Marques said. “Our intention is to be as supportive as we can while maintaining a totally tobacco-free environment.”

Employees who smoke may enroll for free in the Quit & Win Tobacco Free Living Program through the University of Arizona Department of Family and Community Medicine.
The program is a seven-session, one-on-one program that starts with a meeting with a physician to review the smoker’s health and tobacco history and to develop a personalized quit plan. The first visit includes a physical exam and lab tests. The Health Network also will provide customized cessation medications at no charge to employees and their dependents who participate in Quit & Win.

At least one union official scoffed at the proposal of stricter tobacco policies, and the superintendent said employees were going through enough hardships this year without restricting their use of the legal drug as well. But health officials and anti-drug coalition members are going over their heads to the school board in an effort to gain support for prohibiting tobacco use on all district-owned properties — including maintenance buildings and other structures.

Tresa Watson, director of the county’s anti-drug coalition, said she was pleased to learn from Board Chairman James Yant this week that the board is slated to discuss the matter during Tuesday’s workshop.

Prior to that, she believed the matter was closed when Superintendent Bryan Blavatt publicly stated that district officials were tabling the measure in light of employees facing challenges of losing holiday pay while spending more toward retirement, among other budget impacts.

“I think this will be a good start to some conversation about this issue,” Watson said. “But I’m excited to get the discussion going. At this point, I’ll take anything I can get to be honest with you.”

Under current school district policies, tobacco use is prohibited inside school buildings. Teachers or other staff members who want to smoke or chew must do so outside and are typically directed to do so out of sight of students.

Maintenance or other employees who work in other buildings don’t have the same restrictions since they already work away from students. However, under the proposed changes, they would have to travel off the grounds to smoke or chew.

Board members Cynthia Moore and Matthew Foreman agreed they were open to discussion about the policy, but cautioned they have concerns. The other three board members could not be ready for comment.

Moore said she believes implementing the policy would need to be negotiated with the unions. Foreman said he would want to hear from all parties impacted before making a decision.

“It’s a complex issue that brings different reactions out of different people for different reasons,” Foreman said. “I think it would be premature for me to take a side before the meeting.”

Watson said she’s been working for more than a year-and-a-half stemming from a push across the state by health officials to create tobacco-free environments.

Arguments in favor of the initiative include that being 100 percent tobacco free creates a healthier environment, reduces productivity losses due to smoking breaks and that smoking areas model “negative social behavior.”

However, Watson said she doesn’t want to come off as pushy. But she would like to work with the district to have something done.

“Hopefully, they move forward with something, even if it isn’t a 100 percent tobacco-free policy,” Watson said. “I guess if they squash it they squash it. I mean, what else am I going to do then? But at least we’re having the conversation about it and that’s a start.”

The Tobacco Free Mountaineers will meet today to discuss the next steps in achieving their ultimate goal – a tobacco-free campus. The group is a student-lead coalition that advocates for tobacco prevention on campus and in the local community. With Monongalia County’s vote on the smoking ban in the near future, the Tobacco Free Mountaineers will be discussing their opportunities to play an integral role.

Alyssa Iannamorelli, president of the Tobacco Free Mountaineers, said this is an opportunity for students to make a change that will not only affect the University, but the Morgantown community and county as a whole.
“We will be discussing our role on campus in getting the county to pass the smoking ban, and be the student voice to promote the smoking ban,” Iannamorelli said.
The Morgantown City Council has already passed an ordinance implementing smoke-free zones around the city, but the ultimate goal now is to make it countywide, Iannamorelli said.
Iannamorelli believes there are many benefits to having a smoke-free campus – even for smokers.
“If you cannot smoke in certain areas, then you are more likely to quit entirely,” she said.
The environmental limitations of the smoking ban would not only benefit the health of smokers, but greatly reduce secondhand smoke for local nonsmokers, too.
Iannamorelli said the WVU student body is integral to the smoking ban efforts.
“Hopefully, we will be using the county’s decision as a stepping stone to refocus the University administration on the importance of the tobacco-free campus. But, we really need to drum up the student support for that,” Iannamorelli said.
Statistics from the National College Health Assessment, a survey given by the American College Health Association in Spring 2011, will be presented at the meeting to address the social norms associated with tobacco.
“Many students think a lot more people smoke than is actually true,” Iannamorelli said. “So, we’re going to be discussing options on how to get that information out there.”
Quitline will also be discussed at the meeting – the campus cessation program to help stop smoking.
The meeting is open to the public and takes place in the Mountain Room of the Mountainlair at 8 p.m.

Amanda Fall never really considered herself an anti-smoking advocate. Sitting before a statistic-filled binder in a conference room plastered with advertising campaign posters, the new executive director of Tobacco Free Allen County said her personal views quickly evolved during the past five years. It was during that half-decade stretch that Fall, 36, was the Transitions program director at the Fort Wayne Women’s Bureau, where she assisted recovering women and children in reintegrating with everyday life.

“In the addiction community, even when you give up your non-tobacco addiction, your life is still surrounded by tobacco,” she said, noting that post-program participants always bombarded her with the same questions in support groups.

“When’s my smoke break?”

“How much should I budget for cigarette purchases this week?”

“Just to watch the personal struggles – a lot of them wanted to stop but just couldn’t stop,” Fall recalled.

And it was that pivotal experience that motivated her to accept the new position at Tobacco Free Allen County and replace former Executive Director Dick Conklin, who recently retired after six years with the organization.

In her third day on the job this month, Fall echoed local health officials’ pleas for state legislation banning smoking not just within businesses but also on their outdoor properties.

She also cited a historically low smoking rate for all of Indiana – 21.2 percent – that was announced last week by the state health department as a promising but unfinished step forward.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, absolutely,” she said. “It’s great news that it’s dropped, but we still don’t have a statewide smoking policy.”

The inherent challenges Hoosiers face in motivating tobacco-free lawmaking are numerous, she added.

For one, Fall said, “enforcement is always difficult” because Fort Wayne residents must independently report ordinance violations of the city’s smoking law they witness to the appropriate agency.

In a state where tobacco usage is a nostalgic pastime, such enforcement methods may be unreliable, she said.

Fall said that’s why targeting youth and uprooting smoking tendencies early on is her No. 1 priority.

That overarching goal will continue this school year as Tobacco Free Allen County collaborates with the Indiana High School Athletic Association to combat smoking among adolescents.

The IHSAA will select two student-athletes – one from Woodlan High School and one from North Side High School – to deliver anti-tobacco presentations at area schools. The schools were chosen because they had not participated previously during the program’s five-year run.

Fall described those on-the-ground efforts as far more effective than any lecture with which she would bore teen audiences.

“Peer education always works best with youth,” she said. “If I were to go to speak with them, I’d just be the crazy tobacco lady.”

Yet Fall admitted there remain serious obstacles.

A lifetime Fort Wayne resident who received her bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Saint Francis and an MBA from Indiana Tech, Fall offered a general outline for cutting through Indiana’s smoke-clouded history.

She said tobacco consumption must continue to decline as a social norm with increased public education. Then comes the harder part: amplifying that anti-smoking message for state lawmakers.

“With business, you can always hit the economic aspect, saying you’ll save more money if you ban smoking here,” Fall said. “But with legislators, I don’t know how you can incentivize them beyond their constituents being behind it.”

The Tobacco-Free Coalition of Delaware County’s office has moved temporarily to the Open Door Health Services location in the Southway Centre on South Madison Street. The organization plans to move into Open Door’s South Walnut Street space, which will house the health agency’s family planning clinic, after the center’s new facility on South Madison Street opens this fall.

The coalition’s program coordinator position is a part of the Delaware County Health Department’s staff. In recent weeks, DCHD has announced some of its staff will move to Open Door’s facilities, a collaboration officials believe will improve health education across the county.
“It will be really nice to have everybody more centrally located downtown,” said Cheryl Mathews, the chairwoman of the Tobacco-Free Coalition. “There will be more collaboration between all of the health educators that are with the Health Department.”

Despite the new ordinance banning smoking in bars, Cecilia Williams, the coalition’s program coordinator, said “we still have more to go.”

An area of education that needs more attention is the use of spitless, or chewing, tobacco, which Williams said was on the rise, especially in the rural areas of the county.

According to Williams, one can of chewing tobacco can have close to three packs of cigarettes’ worth of nicotine.

“It’s so addictive,” she said. “Our attempts at helping tobacco users quit is so much more of a challenge because the addiction’s so much greater.”

Mathews agrees.

“A lot of times, unfortunately, people think that (chewing tobacco) may be a safer alternative to smoking,” she said. “While there’s no second-hand smoke from spitless tobacco, it’s still damaging to the person who’s using the tobacco product.”

Next for the coalition, however, is more outreach to the public and businesses about the new ordinance.

The closer relationship the coalition will have with the DCHD nursing and health education staff, which have also moved to Open Door, will make this outreach more efficient, according to the coalition chairwoman.

“We don’t have it in place yet, but we’ll have a public education campaign — stickers, store signs, brochures, some ads — letting people know that this is coming and that this (ordinance) is a good thing for Delaware County. It’s nothing to be afraid of,” Mathews said. “(The move) puts Cecilia with other people that are doing the same kind of job she is.”