Don't know if this is an appropriate place to post this, if not please move it. Just thought some vapers might find it interesting...
My husband is a disabled vet. The other day we got a letter from the VA in the mail, all official looking, which anyone who deals with the VA knows is usually a bad thing. Especially since the return address was from the main VA in our state and not either of the local ones he actually uses. I opened it right there in the lobby of the post office, read it and then started laughing.
It was an official statement from the VA about "tobacco products" and their use in the VA nursing home facilities. Apparently, as of 1 January, the poor souls who are living permanently or temporarily in the nursing and rehab facilities on the VA property are no longer going to be allowed to leave the building without written permission from their doctor. Meaning, no more going out to the smoking area. Instead, the VA will be providing "smoking cessation" products such as pills, patch and gum, at patient request. No "tobacco products" are to be used inside the VA home including smokeless tobacco, snus and "electronic cigarettes".
Freaking bummer town, man. I'm so used to seeing those old guys outside when the weather is nice, sitting in the smoking gazebo playing checkers and cards. I guess now they'll never see the light of day again. Seems pretty bad for someone's recovery to cut them off so abruptly from nicotine, since not everyone can use those other methods. Plus most of the guys at our VA home are never going to leave there again, and after what they've most likely been through it seems pretty stupid to me for the Big Nanny to tell them "no more smoking". The VA is one of the few hospitals left in the world that has a smoking area outside on the grounds ours even has a glass walled heated one for the old guys, so they can go out even in the winter. That smoking area prevented me from punching many a rude VA staffer while waiting hours and hours for my husband's appointments, more than once. I'm guessing that it is soon to go the way of the dinosaur, too.
The whole time I'm reading the letter, laughing in disgust and shaking my head, my husband is standing there freaking out. "What does it say? What does it say?" I finally told him that when he's in the VA home, he can't have his cigars anymore, so I guess I'll wait a few more years before I put him in there.
My husband is a disabled vet. The other day we got a letter from the VA in the mail, all official looking, which anyone who deals with the VA knows is usually a bad thing. Especially since the return address was from the main VA in our state and not either of the local ones he actually uses. I opened it right there in the lobby of the post office, read it and then started laughing.
It was an official statement from the VA about "tobacco products" and their use in the VA nursing home facilities. Apparently, as of 1 January, the poor souls who are living permanently or temporarily in the nursing and rehab facilities on the VA property are no longer going to be allowed to leave the building without written permission from their doctor. Meaning, no more going out to the smoking area. Instead, the VA will be providing "smoking cessation" products such as pills, patch and gum, at patient request. No "tobacco products" are to be used inside the VA home including smokeless tobacco, snus and "electronic cigarettes".
Freaking bummer town, man. I'm so used to seeing those old guys outside when the weather is nice, sitting in the smoking gazebo playing checkers and cards. I guess now they'll never see the light of day again. Seems pretty bad for someone's recovery to cut them off so abruptly from nicotine, since not everyone can use those other methods. Plus most of the guys at our VA home are never going to leave there again, and after what they've most likely been through it seems pretty stupid to me for the Big Nanny to tell them "no more smoking". The VA is one of the few hospitals left in the world that has a smoking area outside on the grounds ours even has a glass walled heated one for the old guys, so they can go out even in the winter. That smoking area prevented me from punching many a rude VA staffer while waiting hours and hours for my husband's appointments, more than once. I'm guessing that it is soon to go the way of the dinosaur, too.
The whole time I'm reading the letter, laughing in disgust and shaking my head, my husband is standing there freaking out. "What does it say? What does it say?" I finally told him that when he's in the VA home, he can't have his cigars anymore, so I guess I'll wait a few more years before I put him in there.
