Move to ban smoking improves public health
I want to respond to the article (May 22) regarding Moses Cone Health System enacting a strict smoke-free policy. I can't help but wonder whether the adverse effects of decades of tobacco use at least contributed to the illnesses of some of the most vocal complainers.
Many people, myself included, have lost someone dear to them due to the effects of tobacco. Each of these deaths could possibly have been prevented. As a nurse, I frequently care for patients who endure agonizing respiratory problems directly linked to a lifetime of tobacco use.
We need to give folks who wish to quit, or have already quit, every incentive to live a tobacco-free lifestyle. We need to ensure that all nonsmokers are able to avoid secondhand smoke.
Moses Cones is not alone in its efforts to improve the overall health of our community by banning smoking. Hospitals, restaurants, businesses and even entire countries have joined in. University of Missouri Health Care will ban employees from even smelling like smoke at work.
We should continue to support the efforts of agencies working to help smokers quit. Keeping Moses Cone smoke-free will be beneficial to smokers and nonsmokers alike.
Jill Ballance
Greensboro
Comments (5)
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Dear Jill,
I agree.
Posted on June 4, 2006 9:11 AM
Great letter.
Posted on June 4, 2006 10:38 AM
Please N&R, enough of the Moses Cone smoking policy letters. I think we get it now, smoking isn't allowed at Moses Cone whether one likes it or not. These letters are as stale as cig smoke. Please move on to something different.
Posted on June 4, 2006 12:57 PM
Good to see letters like this, so that maybe your five year old will not see many people smoking when he gets older. It is a shift in the cultural paradigm that is occuring and I for one, would like to see it continue.
Bravo!
Oh, and I really like the fact that the smokers have a glass house to smoke in! Only thing I'd change is i would take out the air conditioner.
Posted on June 5, 2006 9:32 AM
Deac, already teaching my kids about the bad health effects of smoking, don't you worry. I agree people look silly in smoking boxes, see a lot of that at airports.
Just a bit tired of LTEs about Cone banning smoking. It's a dead horse.
Posted on June 5, 2006 5:17 PM