Martin Memorial Kicking Butts

I smoked for the first time when I was 16 years old. Some friends and I got together at a park, passed around some Swisher Sweets cigars and lit up. It was pretty easy really, especially since you didn’t have to inhale.

I loved it – the smell of it, holding it, the feeling of being an adult. The cigars became a staple of our weekend hijinks, driving around town in my buddy’s car, smoking Swisher Sweets and being quite cool – literally. We rolled the windows down so we wouldn’t smell like smoke, which became a challenge in the chilly Alaska winters.

The cigars eventually gave way to Marlboros and that quickly became a daily habit rather than one reserved for weekends. By the time I was 24 I’d been trying to quit off and on for eight years and finally, after convincing myself I had some sort of throat cancer, I decided to quit for good. Cold turkey.

That’s essentially what Martin Memorial will be doing on Oct. 1. On that day, tobacco use will be prohibited on any Martin Memorial campus, including not just the hospitals but any other location as well. The policy includes Martin Memorial Associates, patients, physicians, visitors, volunteers, vendors and anyone else who comes to a Martin Memorial facility.

But we’re not the only healthcare provider doing this: St. Lucie Medical Center will go smoke free beginning Nov. 20 and approximately 30 other hospitals across the state already have similar policies in place.

The message it promotes is simple: tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, with an estimated one in every five deaths linked to smoking each year. As healthcare providers, it’s counterintuitive to our mission to have people smoking at our facilities.

Martin Memorial does have smoking cessation programs available that can help people quit. And while it’s not an easy habit to break, quitting can help you live a longer, healthier life.

--Scott Samples
Public Information Coordinator