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Tobacco-Free Together - Purpose Statement

Tobacco Free Together logo To promote the health and well-being of our patients, students, visitors and employees, all University of Florida Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare facilities will be tobacco-free starting Nov. 1, 2009. Patients, students, visitors and employees will no longer be able to smoke or use tobacco products on any part of the UF HSC or Shands campus. This includes people in HSC, Shands and UF Physicians buildings, parking lots and cars on these campuses.

The HSC and Shands have a longstanding commitment to serving our patients and improving health in our communities. We feel it's important to promote an environment that supports wellness and disease prevention as well as medical treatment. We also have a commitment to providing our staff and students with a healthy work and learning environment. We now call on our faculty, staff, students and customers to model health-promoting behaviors while on our properties.

According to the Florida Hospital Association:

Tobacco dependence is our nation's most preventable cause of death and disease. Nationally, tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths or an estimated 440,000 deaths per year. That's approximately 1,200 people each day – more than deaths caused by alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car crashes, fires and AIDS combined.
Tobacco use is the No.1 cause of all cancers and emphysema, and it is a leading preventable cause of heart disease and stroke. Tobacco use among pregnant women contributes to low birth weight and premature delivery. Besides lung cancer, tobacco use also causes increased risk for cancer of the mouth, nasal cavities, larynx, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, liver, pancreas, kidney, bladder, uterine cervix and myeloid leukemia.
Patients who smoke have twice the risk of postoperative infection.
Smoking causes more than $167 billion in annual health-related costs, including adult mortality-related productivity costs, adult medical expenditures and medical expenditures for newborns.

A major result of our commitment to the prevention and treatment of cancer is the Shands Cancer Hospital at the University of Florida, which will open in Gainesville in November 2009. Currently, One of every seven adult patients hospitalized at Shands at UF comes to us with a cancer-related condition. According to the American Cancer Society, Florida had more than 101,000 new cases of cancer in 2008 (making California the only state with a higher occurrence).

The Florida Hospital Association supports the Department of Health's Tobacco Free Florida initiative and encourages hospitals to establish and implement a tobacco-free campus policy. At this time, approximately 70 hospitals in the state now have tobacco-free campuses. The HSC-Jacksonville campus and Shands Jacksonville medical center campus became tobacco-free in November 2008 as part of a citywide tobacco-free hospital initiative and we are now building on the success of their program.

The HSC and Shands will provide information and resources to assist employees, students, patients and visitors who wish to stop using tobacco products. A wide selection of counseling services, self-help materials and medicines are available today to help smokers and tobacco-users quit successfully. We will provide information online, in handouts and in fliers posted in our facilities.

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