Smoke-Free After All These Years

Jan. 1, 1999, will mark the 10th anniversary of M. D. Anderson going smoke-free. The cancer center was the first hospital in the Texas Medical Center and among the few in the United States to implement a non-smoking policy nearly a decade ago.

 

Since the historic policy change in 1989, M. D. Anderson has advised many hospitals, corporations and organizations that have sought to follow the institution's example. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center-Orlando, in fact, is currently in the policy stage of creating a smoke-free environment modeled after the Houston experience.

 

Currently, smoking is not permitted on institutional property. It is, however, allowed outside the cancer center's perimeters on public sidewalks.

 

The policy came on the heels of a national push to restrict smoking in the workplace and public areas such as restaurants and sporting arenas. Smoking is a major risk factor for several cancers and other diseases. It also is the chief preventable cause of death in the United States, causing approximately 434,000 deaths a year.

 

To ensure a smooth transition, individuals were notified of the impending smoking ban prior to implementation and smoking cessation programs were offered to help those wanting to quit.

 

"The transition came easy for people who didn't smoke. For those who did, it proved difficult," says Leslie Bean, director of patient advocacy. "Overall, people applauded the institution's move to become smoke-free."

 

Former M. D. Anderson patient Billie Bond was one of them.

 

When Bond was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1988, she remembers being "surprised and dismayed to see people smoking throughout the cancer center. It was disheartening and made me uneasy. I didn't want to be exposed to the smoke."

 

One year later, the no smoking policy was established and the patient advocate volunteer recalls, "It was a breathe of fresh air. It was a wonderful institutional decision."

 

For some smokers, the policy change motivated them to break the habit.

 

"Ever since I started smoking, I had always thought about quitting, but never did," says Helen Rodman, a research nurse in Genitourinary Oncology. "When M. D. Anderson made the rule against smoking, I decided this was a good time to stop."

 

Rodman participated in an M. D. Anderson smoking cessation program and successfully quit on Nov. 14, 1988, nearly two months before the policy went into effect.

 

As M. D. Anderson celebrates 10 years of being smoke-free this winter, so, too, will Rodman.

 

-- Eileen A. Ellig