Smoking ban in effect at U.Va. Medical Center

Media General News Service

As of yesterday, patients, employees and visitors no longer are allowed to smoke on the property of the University of Virginia Medical Center.

As part of the hospital's effort to transition to a smoke-free environment, people no longer may smoke in front of the hospital's entrance, outside the primary-care center, at the medical center's outpatient clinics, in the parking garages and at the Elson Student Health Center.

Instead, smokers will have to walk to Jefferson Park Avenue.

"We want to protect staff, patients and visitors from secondhand smoke, which causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke," Dr. Jonathon Truwit, the hospital's chief medical officer, said in a news release.

As part of the transition, U.Va. will offer patients and visitors free comfort kits that include tips on quitting smoking, word puzzles and hard candy, said Megan Rowe, a hospital spokeswoman.

Employees will be able to attend a smoking-cessation program called "Hoos Healthy" that is part of the hospital's benefits package and includes free help from "quit coaches."