UAMS Smoke-Free?
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
By Valentine`s Day, the U-A-M-S campus could have a heart-felt gift for Arkansas - smoke-free grounds. That`s the day the air would clear under a proposal being considered by the chancellor`s board. The plan would rid the campus of the smoking shelters that were set up when lighting-up was banned indoors. Administrators of the University of Arkansas for the Medical Sciences say the school/hospital has to be a model for public health. Almost a half million Arkansans smoke and smoking-related illnesses cost the state 663 million dollars a year.
Still, many employees of the hospital, even those who treat the sick, say the ban would be something to quit over.
Board members will sit down to talk about the proposal again on October 15th. If U-A-M-S commits to the plan, employees would be offered free help to stop smoking January first.
