Published by: Jim Nathan on 11/17/2010 10:32:58 AM
Lee Memorial Health System in Lee County, Florida, has been tobacco free for one year as of Nov. 19.
When we began our journey toward Tobacco Free Lee, an estimated 20 percent of our workforce used tobacco products. That’s about 1,800 people. Although we had been tobacco-free inside our facilities for many years, we knew it would be a struggle for many of our employees, as well as patients and visitors, to adjust to our new status at our various facilities.
Lee Memorial Health System persevered by providing support programs and tobacco cessation products to employees and spouses. To date, the Employee Health Plan Pharmacy has distributed more than 1,500 tobacco cessation products with a 40 percent success rate.
We have posted signs throughout Lee Memorial Health System, which will be updated in recognition of our one-year anniversary to read, “Proud to be Tobacco Free.” We also offer cards explaining our tobacco-free status to assist our employees in gently reminding patients and visitors of this important policy.
Becoming a tobacco-free organization is a very significant step as we continue to strive to improve the health status of the citizens of Southwest Florida. We have become a regional leader in the fight against tobacco use.
When we went tobacco-free last year on the day of the Great American Smokeout, we did not do it alone. Lehigh Regional Medical Center, Physicians Regional Healthcare System and NCH Health Care System also eradicated tobacco use from their properties, meaning all health systems in Charlotte, Collier and Lee counties have said “good-bye” to tobacco.
Lee County Schools already was a tobacco-free organization, and many other local organizations have jumped on board, including all three campuses of Edison State College; Lee Mental Health; Southwest Florida Addiction Services; United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties; and Family Health Centers of Southwest Florida.
In September, we learned that the Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation adopted a smoke-free policy in accordance with their HUD programs, meaning residents of those dwellings cannot use tobacco products on the premises.
Dennis Zampieri, a registered pharmacy technician at Lee Memorial Hospital, is one of our team members who took advantage of the smoking cessation products offered to Lee Memorial Health System employees. Dennis became a smoker in 1969 when he bought a pack of Kools and smoked seven in a row. He says he was “sick as a dog” the next day, but he got used to smoking over time. Dennis tried to quit several times, including in 1973 when he was smoke-free for one year until someone offered him a cigarette. He smoked it, bought a pack the next day and bought a carton the day after that.
A couple years ago, Dennis decided to change his smoking habits by limiting himself to a cigarette in the morning, one after work and one at bedtime. Then, a co-worker told him about a smoking cessation medication called CHANTIX®. Karen Edmiston from Lee Memorial’s Employee Health gave him a prescription in July 2008. “Tobacco Free Lee really helped because I couldn’t smoke at work, and the CHANTIX helped make it so that I didn’t want to smoke at all,” Dennis explains.
Dennis shares that the most important lesson he learned was to keep a positive attitude and always keep in mind why he wanted to quit in the first place. He says he has no regrets: “Food tastes better. My clothes smell better. I can take deeper breaths now. I can even sing.”
Way to go, Dennis! We are singing, too, for your fantastic achievement and the incredible accomplishment of our entire health system team.
We are truly “Proud to be Tobacco Free.”
Peace,
Jim Nathan
President, Lee Memorial Health System