Loris Healthcare, other area hospitals to turn tobacco-free                      

By:Ettie Newlands

The Loris Scene

 It's not unusual for smokers to resolve to quit the habit on New Year's Day. And on that occasion in 2008, they'll get a little help from Loris Healthcare System.

Starting Jan. 1, 2008, Loris Healthcare System will join two other local hospitals by becoming tobacco-free. Conway Hospital and Grand Strand Regional Medical Center will also become 100 percent non-smoking premises on the first of the New Year.

Now, smoking is allowed in designated areas outside Loris Community Hospital, but the interior of the hospital is already tobacco-free.  The courtyard and the front of the building have been the most popular places for staff, visitors and patients to smoke.

"This is not an initiative set forth just by Loris Healthcare System," said Loris Healthcare spokeswoman Celeste Bondurant-Bell. "All four hospitals in our area are making the transition to be tobacco-free." Georgetown Memorial Hospital and Waccamaw Community Hospital will become tobacco-free on the date of The Great American Smoke-Out, Nov. 15, 2007.

This program has been adopted by hospitals all across the country. In North Carolina, almost 90 hospitals are either already tobacco-free or in the process of becoming that way. In South Carolina, the number is about 30. "This is not an anti-tobacco campaign," Bondurant-Bell said. "We are simply asking employees, patients and visitors to refrain from using tobacco on the campus.  "We see this as an extension of out mission to improve the health and overall quality of life in our community," she said.

Arnold Green, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Loris Healthcare System said, "Loris Healthcare System is dedicated to improving the health of our communities. By becoming tobacco-free, we are furthering our mission and setting an example of wellness and prevention that is important to the health of our patients, staff and community."

Bondurant-Bell said the healthcare system "plans to use the next nine months to be supportive and provide as much information as possible to our staff, patients and visitors."

A newly-formed committee of smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers representing all aspects of healthcare staff will be working together to create a support system and provide education about smoking cessation resources available to healthcare employees and the entire community.

Bruce P. Bailey, chairman of South Carolina Hospital Association (SCHA) and Georgetown Hospital System CEO, said "while we recognize that tobacco use is a difficult addiction, the devastating health effects related to tobacco use cannot be ignored.

"Hospitals like those in Horry and Georgetown counties who choose to join out state's tobacco-free initiative are making significant strides in our ongoing responsibility to care for the health of our communities.

"As providers of healthcare services, this is the right thing to do." Bailey made those statements at recent news conference announcing the local hospitals' plans to become tobacco-free. He also pointed out:

* Nearly 6,000 South Carolina adults die each year from smoking-related diseases.

* Tobacco is the most preventable cause of cancer and many other diseases that

cause premature death and suffering.

* Smoking-related health problems cost South Carolina $1.09 billion each year.

* Nearly 57,000 South Carolina high school students and 730,000 adults smoke.

* About 6,500 South Carolina residents younger than 18 begin smoking each year.

Those statistics contributed to SCHA's decision to adopt the tobacco-free policy in local hospitals.