Seneca Healthcare District now tobacco and smoke-free campus
Seneca Healthcare District is now a tobacco and smoke-free campus, including e-cigarettes (vaping). This new policy covers all buildings, grounds and parking lots across the entire SHD campus including the Hospital and Lake Almanor Clinic. This new change applies to not only SHD employees, but all visitors as well, including but not limited to contractors, vendors, volunteers and physicians.
“Oct. 1, 2018 was our official soft start for this change and so far, so good. It’s definitely a positive step forward for the district as we try to promote and encourage a healthy community,” said SHD’s PR and Marketing Officer Lyndsey Ohland.
“We’ve been working really hard to implement this change at SHD and could not have done it without the help of Leila Srouji and James Wilson at Plumas County Public Health Agency,” added Ohland.
The district is working with their employees to assist anyone who would like to quit smoking and is providing the resources necessary to help them quit or help them stay tobacco and smoke free during work hours. The Human Resources Manager, James Kooyman and Ohland are working together to discuss planning and providing a special smoking cessation informational session for those who would like the extra resource.
“Seneca’s accomplishment in adopting a smoke-free campus policy is fantastic! One by one, our healthcare campuses in Plumas County are taking this important step that both reduces health inequities locally, and decreases harm to those working in health care settings or seeking care themselves. We look forward to continuing our strong population-level health collaborations with Seneca healthcare District,” said Andrew Woodruff, director at Plumas County Public Health Agency.
With Seneca’s adoption of its new policy, all hospitals in Plumas County are now smoke free. The only healthcare campus in the county that still allows smoking is the county’s health and human services building in Quincy, also known as the courthouse annex. Plumas County Public Health Agency’s Tobacco Use Reduction Program staff can provide information to assist any organization going tobacco-free.
For more information, contact Plumas County Public Health Agency Tobacco Use Reduction Program at 283-6457.
