Delaware – By Thanksgiving, all five Delaware Health and Social Services long term care hospital campuses will have banned smoking from their grounds. No smoking, anywhere — not even while sitting in your car. Starting on the date of the Great American Smokeout, November 15, the campuses of Herman Holloway, Sr. in New Castle, Stockley Center in Georgetown, Governor Bacon Health Center in Delaware City, Delaware Hospital for the Chronically Ill in Smyrna (including the Public Health Laboratory), and Emily P. Bissell Hospital in Wilmington will ban all smoking on hospital property. Employees and visitors are currently permitted to smoke in designated outdoor areas.

“As the guardian of Delaware’s public health it is our turn to take the lead in the movement to prohibit smoking in the workplace,” said Vince Meconi, Secretary, Delaware Health and Social Services. “As we see it, condoning tobacco use anywhere on our hospital properties sends the wrong message about a deadly product. The Department has a responsibility to be activists on this important public health issue,” he said.

About three-quarters of the 4,800 U.S. hospitals prohibit smoking on their grounds, said Rick Wade, senior vice president for communications at the American Hospital Association. Thirty-one states, including Delaware, have enacted laws restricting smoking in private workplaces, and 48, including Delaware, restrict it in government buildings, according to an analysis by the American Lung Association. Delaware’s Clean Indoor Air Act, which went into effect in 2002, prohibits smoking in all workplaces, as well as bars and restaurants.

“A growing number of hospitals are eliminating outdoor smoking areas because they see tobacco use as at odds with their mission to heal patients,” explained Meconi. “This November, DHSS will join Christiana Care Health System, Beebe Medical Center, Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and St. Francis Hospital in having smoke-free campuses.”

Tobacco use is Delaware’s leading cause of premature death and disability. Tobacco causes almost a third of all cancers; and is a major cause of heart disease, stroke, emphysema and other lung diseases. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. It contributes to the risk of developing lung cancer, many other cancers, heart disease and respiratory illness. Of the estimated 48 million U.S. adults smoking cigarettes, about half of those who continue to smoke will die from a smoke-related disease. Tobacco use is responsible for approximately 430,000 deaths per year in this country. Secondhand smoke from a parent’s cigarettes increases a child’s chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions. The current Surgeon General’s Report concluded that scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. Short exposures to second hand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack.

The Delaware Division of Public Health works to prevent the use of tobacco products through its Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. The program is supported by a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and appropriations from the Delaware Health Fund.

The Tobacco Prevention and Control Program collaborates with the IMPACT Delaware Tobacco Prevention Coalition, with more than 40 member organizations including health-care, youth and community groups, educational organizations, grassroots networks and state agencies.

Our Tobacco Prevention and Control Program offers two programs to help smokers quit successfully -the Delaware Quitline and the online Delaware QuitNet . The program also conducts media campaigns, and funds youth-led campaigns and peer-group organizations. Educational activities are carried out at all levels, including community and school programs.