Effective October 1, Columbus Childrens Hospital and all affiliated campuses will be entirely smoke free. While Childrens has been smoke free for all employees since 2004, visitors have been able to smoke in designated smoking areas. However, as of October 1, designated areas will no longer be available and visitors will also be asked not to smoke in vehicles parked on campus.
Both the indoors and outdoors of any property owned or leased by Childrens will implement the smoking cessation policy. Tobacco products prohibited include: cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco, pipe smoking and snuff.
According to Childrens CEO Steve Allen, M.D., this initiative was developed to enhance the Childrens experience. A smoke free campus fits with our mission as advocates for the health of our patients, their families and our employees, Allen said. The goal of a smoke free campus is to provide a safe and healthy environment as well as promote and encourage healthy lifestyles throughout the community.
Smoking and the use of tobacco products are major causes of preventable disease and death in the United States. More than 4,800 different chemicals have been identified in cigarette smoke, 69 of which are known to cause cancer. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children, causing anywhere from 150,000 to 3000,000 lower respiratory infections in infants and children under 18 months. Secondhand smoke is also known to cause adverse health complications in children such as asthma, increased cold and ear infections and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Because Childrens understands the heightened anxiety a family feels during the illness of a child, nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) will be made available to visitors to help deal with the physical symptoms of not smoking. Other resources are available to those who wish to quit smoking, including the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line, 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Columbus Children's Hospital to go Smoke Free
August 28, 2007
About Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 14,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.7 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.