Moving Beyond Smoke-Free Buildings: The Establishment of a Smoke-Free Campus Environment

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN), a nonprofit, tertiary care facility, is the largest employer in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley with more than 8,000 employees and 27 employee sites including three hospital campuses. While the organization had a building smoking ban in place throughout the past decade, senior management sought to strengthen its smoke-free efforts by instituting a tobacco-free campus policy on January 1, 2007. Key elements to the design and successful implementation of the new policy included: strong support from the organization's CEO and senior management team, a toolkit for managers and staff to assist in dealing with implementation challenges, adequate lead-time for employee and community awareness of the new policy prior to implementation, and provision of tobacco cessation services and support. In addition, the organization's health insurance provider broadened its coverage for tobacco treatment services through LVHHN's on-site Tobacco Treatment Program enabling employees and their dependents access to cessation services and medication cost-free. The Smoke-Free Work Environment Committee directed the smoke-free campus effort. Three subcommittees were established to develop protocols, action timelines, and ancillary educational materials. These subcommittees included the Scripting and Accountability Committee; the Patient, Visitor, and Employee Policy Committee; and the Signage and Communications Committee. Guidance for policy development was drawn from hospitals and health centers that had previously implemented campus-wide smoke-free policies. Process successes and challenges will be discussed and tips for successful policy implementation will be shared. In addition, the policy's impact on tobacco treatment services will be presented.