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No smoking policy harming some patients, say outreach workers

Outreach and health care workers are urging the provincial government to allow patients to smoke at the Waterford Hospital and the Addiction Treatment Centre in St. John's.

They say strict no-smoking policies at the facilities are harming some patients.

"Often we are working with people with complex mental health and addictions issues — helping people get into the Waterford or helping people get into the recovery centre," said Carmella Gray-Cosgrove, an outreach worker with Thrive.

"A barrier that we encounter a lot of the time with our participants is that they are asked to not smoke and they immediately throw up their hands and say, 'I'm not going.'"

Gray-Cosgrove is one of the people behind a letter to Health Minister John Haggie.

"The consensus among the undersigned, those at the front line of mental health and community services, is that smoking cessation policies at the Waterford Psychiatric Unit and the Recovery Centre create unnecessary barriers to patients seeking vital and life-saving treatment for mental health and addictions," the letter reads.

It urges the province to make an exception to its no-smoking policy at some facilities. The letter says the Smoke-Free Environment Act allows inpatient smoking in some designated areas.

Supporting their argument

Gray-Cosgrove says 70 addictions professionals and advocates have signed the letter.

Thrive has also hired a researcher to look at the affect of no-smoking policies on access to care.

"What the studies found is that often people looked for mental health and addictions care and when they were told that they would have to stop smoking to receive care and if they left the premises they wouldn't get that care and most people would then just choose to leave," said Kyekue Mweemba, a public policy intern with Thrive.

She said it's a barrier that doesn't exist for other types of care.

"If you were to go to a health centre now and you had a cut, you wouldn't be sent away if you went outside for a cigarette. You'd be allowed to come back inside to get your treatment. Right now if you are admitted to the psychiatric unit and you leave for a smoke, you can't come back — you have to re-admit yourself," said Mweemba.

"We need to take away the stigma of mental health so it's thought of the same way as other health problems, like a cut."

Thrive compiled the research Mweemba has done and has sent it along to the health minister.

Not rejecting proposal

John Haggie said he is considering the proposal.

"Well, there is a legal exemption under the Smoke-Free Environment Act for psychiatric facilities. Certainly anything that represents a barrier to addictions or mental health treatment I'm prepared to look at to reduce or eliminate," he said.

"I still work from the premise that in general the best thing to do with smoking is to encourage you to cease."

The province has promised to build a new psychiatric unit in St. John's to replace the antiquated Waterford Hospital. Outreach workers hope it will include a smoking area for patients.