Tobacco Addiction Politics

The handout was prepared for a Resident Council meeting on 6 February, 2018. It turned out I had the wrong week! The meeting is next week.

Resident Council Handout

The top box contains the basis for actions now being taken by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) at one end of the spectrum of tobacco control and by well-informed responsible people everywhere. That means no tobacco smoke; first hand, second hand, and third hand.

My trip to San Antonio made it very clear that third hand tobacco smoke, the smoke from hair, clothes and body for the next 30 minutes to hours after smoking, that exposes patients and residents, was very confused with “smoke free” or as one person put it, “smoking free”.

2 Feb 2018 Wall Street Journal

People smoke to satisfy their need for nicotine.
The Wall Street Journal, Friday, 2 February, 2018, ran a full page “tombstone” ad making this every clear. [Tombstone ad; A full blank page with a simple message (addictive).] Thank W_____ for subscribing.

E_____ has quit smoking some time ago. L_____ is now on her second attempt. She stopped smoking at work. Work provided a safe place to not smoke. She no longer buys cigarettes. She is now down to smoking when she encounters others smoking. The smell of smoke is a powerful trigger to light up again.

The one site in San Antonio, we did not see, has confirmed that they are “encouraging” all employees to not smoke at work in memory care. They are aware of the effect of tobacco smoke on ill and aging people who do not smoke.

They may also be aware that people are increasingly asking for air as clean as in their own homes. The tourist industry is aware of this as it brings in new business. If we had to move, this place would be our first choice to check out.

The simplest way to obtain tobacco free conditions is to ban smoking on the property. For those so addicted that they cannot go nine hours without needing to adjust their blood nicotine levels, there are alternate nicotine sources to burning tobacco and breathing [a part of] the smoke.

Just Ask

Provision Living still has the opportunity to be the first large health care residential community in Columbia, Missouri, to offer a tobacco free memory care environment. We have one smoker in assisted living who, each day, makes an early morning trip out the front door to smoke.

The Best Place a Senior Adult Has Ever Lived

I am willing to put up to $1,000 into supporting the transition from cigarettes to lozenges to quitting, if others will match my contributions. [It cost a lot more to move.] Provision Living at Columbia has everything (radiant caregivers and facilities) in one building that my wife and I need to “thrive” with the exception of the every present third hand tobacco smoke.

[Bring fidget devices and nicotine lozenges to Resident Council meeting.]