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Smoking bans need to consider the neighborhood

Tip Of The Week, September 19, 2007

While public health is often at the center of smoking bans on hospital campuses, there have been at least some cases where the surrounding neighborhoods suffered-and residents complained to the local newspaper.

St. Peter's Hospital in Albany, NY, was among 16 medical centers in that region that simultaneously banned smoking on their campuses earlier this year.

But residents who live by St. Peter's are now finding hospital workers smoking on the sidewalk or on private property, and sometimes leaving their discarded cigarette butts on the ground, reported the Albany Times-Union.

An Albany city councilor is involved in the dilemma, suggesting that perhaps smoking huts on city property near the hospital is one way to contain the problem, according to the Times-Union.

If your hospital has a smoking ban in place, it might make sense to occasionally walk around the neighboring community to see if healthcare workers are lighting up on a local corner or littering the sidewalk. Left unchecked, these nuisances will eventually raise the ire of residents.

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