UAMS First State Agency to Go Smoke Free
| LITTLE ROCK – On Tuesday, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will become the first state agency or hospital to go smoke free.
Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson, M.D., and the UAMS Cabinet made the decision last October to take the campus smoke free in July as part of the “Get Healthy UAMS” campaign. The new policy includes employees, students, patients and visitors.
“As I said in October, our employees are our most valuable resource and our students are the future of health care in Arkansas,” Wilson said. “If we are to be successful in our goal of making the state healthier, we must practice what we preach in our own backyard.”
The new policy applies to all properties owned or leased by UAMS, including the seven Area Health Education Centers around the state. The decision to convert to a nonsmoking campus is part of UAMS’ overall emphasis on health. Up until the new policy goes into effect, smoking has been allowed in six designated areas on campus. UAMS has been offering nicotine replacement therapy and smoking cessation classes to employees and students who want to quit smoking.
“This campus has a responsibility as the state’s only academic medical center and a health care leader to set the example in combating what is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in Arkansas.”
UAMS has about 9,000 employees, 652 residents and 2,170 students, including the Graduate School. In 2003, UAMS had 46,203 in-patient admissions and 1,271,987 out-patient visits.