E-smokers will NOT be hired at 2 FL hospitals
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@Crumpet- Can you please keep me updated also? I live around this region and now, with this decision, I am worried that other hospitals will follow suit.
I think they went a little too far with this decision. I can understand 'no smoking' policies on grounds at work, but not the no nicotine what-so-ever policy. The fact that other hospitals in my area may follow suit worries me because I Graduated in Dec. of 09 as a Radiographic Technologist (RT) or X-ray Tech in short terms. I have been unable to obtain a job in the last year due to all the hiring freezes in my area, the flooding of this market with techs, and also with not having reliable transportation to be able to drive to Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, or over to Wesley Chapel, Zephryhills...etc. I chose a career in this field in hopes to bring myself and my family out of Gov. help and now this new policy really worries me! If other hospitals follow suit before I myself can find an opening that would mean I would be unable to obtain any work and myself and my family would have to stay on Gov help! Thinking of that, how many others are out there are in a similar situation? To me that is burden that could be avoided! I don't like needing help and never have, that is why I chose to go back to school and study something where I could make a livable income and help support my family. I feel as if we are all being discriminated against because we picked up a bad habit years ago.
So whats next? Obesity? That has just as much, if not more, health complications as tobacco use.
I read the comments made on that article, and I must admit, some of the non-smoker comments are rude and ignorant. I bet if that policy was pointed towards the obese a lot of them would change their tune. I only say that because we all know that a high percentage of the US population is obese to some extent.
I think they went a little too far with this decision. I can understand 'no smoking' policies on grounds at work, but not the no nicotine what-so-ever policy. The fact that other hospitals in my area may follow suit worries me because I Graduated in Dec. of 09 as a Radiographic Technologist (RT) or X-ray Tech in short terms. I have been unable to obtain a job in the last year due to all the hiring freezes in my area, the flooding of this market with techs, and also with not having reliable transportation to be able to drive to Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater, or over to Wesley Chapel, Zephryhills...etc. I chose a career in this field in hopes to bring myself and my family out of Gov. help and now this new policy really worries me! If other hospitals follow suit before I myself can find an opening that would mean I would be unable to obtain any work and myself and my family would have to stay on Gov help! Thinking of that, how many others are out there are in a similar situation? To me that is burden that could be avoided! I don't like needing help and never have, that is why I chose to go back to school and study something where I could make a livable income and help support my family. I feel as if we are all being discriminated against because we picked up a bad habit years ago.
So whats next? Obesity? That has just as much, if not more, health complications as tobacco use.
I read the comments made on that article, and I must admit, some of the non-smoker comments are rude and ignorant. I bet if that policy was pointed towards the obese a lot of them would change their tune. I only say that because we all know that a high percentage of the US population is obese to some extent.
Demoness, You should put together your story and thoughts and send them off to him. Give a little info on you're smoking history, attempted quits and how you have worked to get off cigarettes. I don't believe these people really understand how ineffective NRT products really are for a smoker, they just listen to the industry propaganda of how "helpful" these products are.
When you have PVs and other smokeless tobacco that eliminates the combustion that leads to 98% of the health risk, you have put tobacco usage far down the food chain on sources of disease. I'm not even sure that cigarette usage today is as large a health risk as obesity but the message has been sent and altered . Testing for CO would definitely be an improvement which would differentiate smoking from nicotine/tobacco use.
When you have PVs and other smokeless tobacco that eliminates the combustion that leads to 98% of the health risk, you have put tobacco usage far down the food chain on sources of disease. I'm not even sure that cigarette usage today is as large a health risk as obesity but the message has been sent and altered . Testing for CO would definitely be an improvement which would differentiate smoking from nicotine/tobacco use.
What a shame...this story is disheartening to say the least. I work for the government and they have no problem whatsoever with me vaping at work. I really wish companies would research the value of ecigs over other options.
Government Employees allowed to use E-cigarettes at work
Would make a fantastic Pro E-cigarette headline in the news.
Won't happen...But it would make headlines all over the world.
well i work for the government too, in a military hospital and we stlll have smoke shacks right outside the hospital entrances. smoking is so prevalent in the military, i cant imagine them going "smoke free campus", let alone not allowing ecigs, for a long time, if ever.
If they are worried about lowering healthcare costs, perhaps they should all take a cut in pay.
Or perhaps stop building Taj Mahal hospitals.
Or mandate body fat index levels.
Or maybe find cures for the diseases which bilk billions of dollars in donations from the sympathetic public.
Or just stop feeling superior to everyone with an addiction & find ways to help.
But, unfortuneately, healthcare needs smokers, alcoholic drivers, drug addicts, obese people, ugly people (plastic surgeons), etc...
Where else would they get the $ they need?
I find it interesting that on the list of high risk people they have identified-nicotine addicts are the only ones they are going to prohibit from working in the hospital.
Funny, too, that doctors & volunteers aren't being held to the same standards.
I thought our government acts poorly, but this guy takes the cake.
Or perhaps stop building Taj Mahal hospitals.
Or mandate body fat index levels.
Or maybe find cures for the diseases which bilk billions of dollars in donations from the sympathetic public.
Or just stop feeling superior to everyone with an addiction & find ways to help.
But, unfortuneately, healthcare needs smokers, alcoholic drivers, drug addicts, obese people, ugly people (plastic surgeons), etc...
Where else would they get the $ they need?
I find it interesting that on the list of high risk people they have identified-nicotine addicts are the only ones they are going to prohibit from working in the hospital.
Funny, too, that doctors & volunteers aren't being held to the same standards.
I thought our government acts poorly, but this guy takes the cake.
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Doctors and volunteers are not "Employees", so they are exempt.
I used to work for a hospital. Doctors RULE. Anything they want...They get.
NO Hospital will ever drug test their doctors for nicotine.
Hospitals also depend on volunteers for free labor.
Personally, I'm severely offended that we even have to suggest breath testing for smoke as a compromise to not banning nicotine altogether. I can see no smoking on the premises, but unless an employer is paying you for 24 hrs per day I don't think they should be able to dicate what LEGAL behaviors you can engage in when you are not on their clock. Period. It's morally corrupt, imo. However, I realize that the courts have upheld the rights of companies to not hire smokers and I have to operate within that reality. I also accept that we cannot afford to give them any ammunition against us by acting like 'crazy addicts' or being verbally course or crass.
Shades of Hitler.
Addiction used to mean a you were addicted to a particular substance and you had a set of behaviors that somehow compromised your welfare. I see that has flown out the window in the rush to label every and anybody as "addicted" even if you are using a drug anti-smoking forces have recommended like the "patch".
I understand what your saying Crumpet but being verbally coarse or crass isn't restricted to "crazy addicts".
I would say the idea that a person is somehow unfit to work {who smokes} coming from a hospitals director is certainly "crazy rhetoric" you might hear from someone who's brain has been addled by drinking or narcotics maybe.
He should know better.
C.B.
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Well put Crumpit, although they are discriminating when they won't hire on one unhealthy behavior while overlooking other, just as obvious unhealthy behaviors. If you're going to avoid WHO's true "leading, preventable cause of disease and death", nutrition and you're not going to demand that no use of any form of alcohol is permitted by employees, you shouldn't regulate off hour smoking. I'd much rather have a hospital worker taking care of me that chain smoked the previous evening, than was out binge drinking.
As a future nurse I find news like this very troubling...not only for myself as a healthcare worker but for the patients. Trust me, I don't want a nurse or other healthcare professional working on me while going through nicotine withdrawal.
A few years ago when I first graduated college I was applying for jobs and there is a huge Lawncare company locally that does a lot of hiring...except they will not hire any smokers and they flat out state in their job applications that they test for nicotine. I always that was a tad too extreme. It's one thing to be smoke free on the premises but I think that is going way too far and it seems really discriminatory.
A few years ago when I first graduated college I was applying for jobs and there is a huge Lawncare company locally that does a lot of hiring...except they will not hire any smokers and they flat out state in their job applications that they test for nicotine. I always that was a tad too extreme. It's one thing to be smoke free on the premises but I think that is going way too far and it seems really discriminatory.
Governments and companies will do whatever they want to do.
And there's nothing you can do about it.
Law suits are expected and built in to their business plan.
The ONLY way to effect change is if they Loose a MAJOR Law suit
resulting in HUGE monetary settlements.
Sometimes (rarely) overwhelming public opinion makes a difference.
And there's nothing you can do about it.
Law suits are expected and built in to their business plan.
The ONLY way to effect change is if they Loose a MAJOR Law suit
resulting in HUGE monetary settlements.
Sometimes (rarely) overwhelming public opinion makes a difference.
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