Smoking Ban Irks Retirement Home Residents

[The Straight Story]

Smoking Ban Irks Retirement Home Residents

SPOKANE, Wash. - The state's tough new anti-smoking law has an unlikely opponent: a retired doctor who argues the ban is forcing elderly smokers in nursing homes to take unnecessary risks.

Dr. Robert Guild, 71, says the law is forcing him and other smokers at the Maplewood Gardens Retirement Apartments — some in wheelchairs and walkers — to brave an ice- and snow-covered lawn to get to a structure that is far enough away from the retirement facility to meet the ban's requirements.

The smokers have dubbed the structure "Butt Hutt," and argue that it is a poor replacement to the well-ventilated smoking lounge management provided before the ban on indoor smoking went into effect in December.

"There's overhead heating, but it's very inconvenient, and there are no facilities," Guild said, noting that restrooms are important for folks his age.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060220/ap_on_he_me/nursing_home_smokers;_ylt=Am.Tm7hf8OfjAstC1BORQPus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

If they lived that long smoking let em light it up, ain't like they got much else to do :)

[seabeyond]

1. 71 yr old smokers. cant be. they are suppose to be dead

well in the words of so many on this board. tough shit. you deserve the broken hips falling on ice..... further, how dare you live to 71

[varkam]

2. Smoke 'Em if you got 'em

I always thought smoking bans were generally a good idea (and I'm a smoker). Especially for places with open-air smoking and non-smoking sections where families and kids go (such as restaurants). But come on - In a retirement home? If they have a well-ventilated smoking area, then I say let them burn some sticks.

[Broken_Hero]

3. Ditto...:)

Smoke'em if you got'em...:)

[Warpy]

9. Right, the operative words were "well ventilated."

You can create a negative pressure room, hospitals have them to contain infectious diseases. It wouldn't be difficult to create one in a nursing or assisted living (which is what this sounds like) facility. The negative pressure in the room would ensure that smoke wouldn't diffuse throughout the rest of the facility, important where lots of the residents are coping with lung and heart diseases.

There needs to be some mechanism for negative pressure rooms to exist for smokers, and I mean everywhere. It's just a little insane that places like corporate office buildings don't have them, but I guess they're trying to discourage smokers any way they can so they won't cost the health plan anything.

This is just another example of witlessness in action. There should be a mechanism to apply for variances to an outright ban. Constructing a negative pressure room would certainly solve the problem in this nursing facility.

[NanceGreggs]

4. UH OH!

Another 'smoking' thread.

Batten down the hatches, men, SHE'S GONNA BLOW!!!!!!!!

I'll weigh in early, and then I'm outta here before this thread is at 200,000,000 posts (within the next ten minutes).

"It's a poor replacement to the well-ventilated smoking lounge management provided before the ban on indoor smoking ..."

Well, THAT says it all. Why continue to provide a well-ventilated smoking lounge, when you can make people brave the elements INSTEAD!

Even as I'm typing this, I know this thread is filling up with posts from the "Well, why don't they just QUIT crowd". They will totally ignore the fact that people in retirement homes today are of a generation where smoking was (a) not known to be dangerous, (b) was MORE than socially acceptable, and (c) was advertized to all and sundry as a safe way to relax.

I'm glad I'm a woman of 'a certain age', and I'll be LONG GONE before the current generation hits the retirement home - squawking about not being able enjoy their Cheetos, fat-laden Taco-Bell entres, and McDonald's greaseburgers for lunch, not to mention 'processed oil food product' whipped topping on their chemically reproduced jello moulds.

And with that, I'm outta here ...

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. i wonder if they sell cigarettes at these senior centers

or if the old-timers have to go out on their own to get their smokes?

[DearAbby]

6. It isn't enough they

had to lose all their earthly possessions, home, furniture, grandmother's china hutch...sometimes family.

....most times their dignity, lets take more away from them. It's not enough to wake these people out of bed at 5:30 in the morning,take them to the bathroom...then line them up along the hall like cattle, for breakfast..Feed them..then to take them assembly line to bathrooms, or change the attends, ...Sit them in their rooms, until it is time again to line them up for lunch..Feed them...assembly line again to the bathrooms or change the attends..lay them down for naps...up again for dinner...bathroom..and bed for the night by 8:pm. Nurse aids coming in every two hours to interupt sleep to drug you out of bed, or change your attends

Let's take away something else, their last bit of individuality. A bit of personal freedom. Lets make them trudge out of "their own home" and smoke outside in a shack...

[SoCalDem]

7. This might make people try to stay in their own homes longer

the loss of dear pets, and the infringement of personal habits keeps old people at home longer than it's really safe..

At least the exercise they get is probably helpful to them:)

[dsc]

8. there are actually a considerable number of younger people

in nursing homes too who wind up there for decades. Clearly some reasonable accomodation should be able to be worked out here. This isn't a hospital or rehab place with temporary stays but a place intended to be a home.

[NuttyFluffers]

10. oh good heavens, this is ridiculous.

i'm sure they can find an enclosed room of some sort and let the last few months or years of these people pass in some sort of peace. oh wait, there's a law... i'm sure everyone in those homes are petrified about second hand smoke, sole consuming thought on their minds. :eyes: