Courtesy Photo | All medical and dental facilities as well as the veterinary clinic located on Fort...... read more read more
Subscribe
FORT STEWART, Ga. - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cite tobacco use as the leading preventable cause of death, disease and disability in the U.S. and two military medical centers in Georgia have taken steps to address this health hazard head-on.
In July 2012, all medical and dental facilities, as well as the veterinary clinic located on Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, instituted a tobacco-free policy that promotes health and wellness. Beyond the brick and mortar structures, the policy that serves more than 2,000 employees also applies to the parking lots, roads, sidewalks and other property owned, operated, maintained or leased by the Medical Department Activity, Dental Activity and U.S. Veterinary Command.
Col. Ronald J. Place, commander of the Medical Department Activity at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, says that quitting tobacco usually entails more than a simple change of behavior.
“Tobacco use, in general, is an emotional issue. For many people, despite the fact that they know it’s not healthy, they enjoy the tobacco experience. So anyone who wants to go toward a tobacco-free anything has to be cognizant of that fact and put themselves in that position before making any decisions,” Place explains.
A distinction is made between tobacco-free and smoke-free. Smoke-free, as characterized by Place, “is the inhaled form of tobacco, such as cigarettes, pipe-smoking, etc.” A tobacco-free environment includes not only the inhaled form of tobacco, but also all oral forms of the substance, which includes chewing tobacco and snuff. Place stipulates that if the organization’s position embodies healthy behavior, “then it needs to be consistent across all forms of tobacco.”
Another component of the tobacco-free policy is the cessation classes that are offered free of charge to all active duty service members, military retirees and their family members. The classes, which incorporate medications and counseling, are also offered during the duty day, underscoring the organizational commitment to healthy lifestyle choices. Six months after instituting the policy, Place says that he sees a tripling of enrollments in tobacco cessation programs.
Eliminating tobacco is part of a broader strategy to support healthy living. “Becoming tobacco-free is just the first of a series of phased implementations of a wellness campus,” says Place. “In order for a tobacco-free campus to be part of a wellness program, we have to identify all kinds of unhealthy behaviors and do it in parallel or in sequence with an organization that embraces potential educational opportunities to address each of them so it doesn’t look as though we’re picking on any particular cohort. We need to be role models for healthy behavior.”
For more information about Department of Defense programs and strategies that support healthy living visit Operation Live Well, a Department of Defense health and wellness campaign designed to encourage healthy lifestyle choices, physical activity, healthy eating, mental and emotional well-being and tobacco-free living.
| Date Taken: | 01.15.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2013 15:59 |
| Story ID: | 100519 |
| Location: | FORT STEWART, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 223 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tobacco-Free Army medical campus shows commitment to health, by Dana McCullough, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
