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Portland, Ore. — Aligning with national trends that encourage activities promoting a healthier lifestyle, The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) has joined forces with the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon, the state Tobacco Prevention & Education Program, Acumentra Health and other concerned Oregon healthcare leaders to launch Step Up!, an initiative to curb tobacco use on hospital campuses.
Currently, of the 57 hospitals in Oregon, approximately 11 are smoke-free. Step Up!, an offshoot of Oregon’s award-winning campaign, “Make It Your Business: Ensure a Tobacco-Free Workforce,” a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, will engage Oregon hospitals not yet smoke-free in a voluntary, collective effort to develop tobacco-free campuses, by helping employees stop smoking or chewing tobacco, encouraging patient-staff dialogue about tobacco use and offering them assistance to stop, and acting as a community resource to involve other businesses in the initiative.
“ Smoking is the leading preventable cause of premature death and disability in our nation — and our state,” said Andy Davidson, OAHHS president and CEO. “Beyond counting the cost to Oregonians of more than $1.8 billion a year in medical care and lost productivity, as health care leaders our aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone in our state. This new program, Step Up!, is one more way that OAHHS and its member hospitals and health systems are working together to ensure we achieve that objective.”
The Step Up! Launch took place in Portland, Thursday, November 2, 2006 and featured a presentation by Melva Fager Okun, manager of the Healthy Hospital Initiative for North Carolina Prevention Partners. She told Oregon healthcare leaders about the successful “Quit Now NC!” program that resulted in 50 North Carolina hospitals becoming tobacco-free campuses.
In addition to the launch, in its first project, members of the partnership are currently surveying Oregon hospitals to learn about their existing efforts and programs to curb tobacco use among employees, patients and visitors. The results, anticipated to be available in early 2007, will be used as a benchmark and guide for future campaign activities.
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Step Up! is a partnership of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, the Tobacco-Free Coalition of Oregon, the state Tobacco Prevention & Education Program, Acumentra Health, and other concerned hospitals and professional associations. As an offshoot of Oregon’s award-winning campaign, “Make It Your Business: Ensure a Tobacco-Free Workforce,” a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, Step Up! will engage hospitals in a voluntary collective effort to develop tobacco-free campuses.
For more information visit www.tobaccofreeoregon.org or call 503-238-7706.
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