THUNDER BAY -- Patients, staff and visitors at St. Joseph's Hospital and the Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital will lose their access to designated smoking areas at the beginning of December.
St. Joseph's Care Group plans to impose a total smoking ban on the property of the hospital and the LPH on Dec. 4, about one month before a provincial law kicks in requiring all Ontario hospitals and psychiatric facilities to be completely smoke-free by Jan. 1, 2018.
Janet Sillman, vice-president of addictions and mental health for St.Joseph's Care Group, said existing designated smoking areas, including shelters at the LPH location, will be shut down and removed. A designated smoking area was not included in the design of the new East Wing currently under construction at St. Joseph's Hospital.
The organization decided to implement the ban before the provincial law takes effect, Sillman told Tbnewswatch, "to get patients and staff ready, and to get our corporation ready, it made sense to focus on a bit of an earlier date."
She acknowledged that a total smoking ban will create hardship for some people.
"For our clients who want to get outside and have a smoke, it will be somewhat difficult for them, but it also poses an opportunity for them to look at healthier lifestyles," Sillman said.
Sillman noted that because of the different settings of the two hospitals, LPH clients will have a considerably farther distance to walk than their counterparts at the hospital if they decide to go off-site for a cigarette.
She suggested that a 100 or 200-metre walk will add to their overall health and well-being.
The hospital, being "very tight and landlocked," will pose a different challenge, Sillman said, in that it may be difficult to find a spot off the property to smoke.
She said the organization has received good advice from the Thunder Bay District Health Unit in how to support clients and staff through the process.
"It's a very difficult process to change smoking habits, and what we want to do is encourage people in complying with the provincial legislation," Sillman said.
She said enforcement of the smoking ban at SJCG will not be lax but it will focus on education.
Smoking ban often ignored at HSC
The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has had a complete smoking ban on the property for the past couple of years, with no designated shelters set aside.
Visitors to the hospital have complained that smokers continue to light up despite the prohibition.
Executive vice-president Dr. Mark Henderson said "a few people" have been fined for smoking on the grounds, but the hospital decided to emphasize education over punishment for violators.
Nonetheless, he admits that hospital officials have been frustrated by the lack of compliance.
"We are a big campus and it's a long way to walk off the property," Henderson said.
The health unit has worked with hospital security staff on "progressive enforcement" of the smoking ban.
Tobacco Enforcement officer Klaus Larsen said that includes making the public aware of the regulations, educating them, then doing enforcement.
He said training is also provided to hospital security guards on the Provincial Offences Act, the City of Thunder Bay smoking bylaw and conflict resolution.
Larsen concedes that "there is a ways to go" with compliance, but notes that there were similar challenges about 10 years ago when smoking bans were imposed on bars, restaurants and workplaces, but eventually the general public came to accept them.
