The state health department and employees of several Intermountain Healthcare hospitals will both become "smoke-free" beginning Thursday in observance of the American Cancer Society's annual Great American Smokeout.
The Utah Department of Health will close its outdoor smoking enclosure for employees and offer help to those who want to quit in finding low-cost or no-cost cessation tools, a press release from the department said.
And IHC's adult hospitals in the Salt Lake Valley will become permanently smoke-free beginning Thursday as well.
The new initiative prohibits the use of tobacco products anywhere on the grounds of Alta View Hospital in Sandy, Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Riverton Hospital, and The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Murray.
The Utah Tobacco Prevention and Control Program estimates that smoking costs Utah $369 million in annual medical expenses and $294 million in lost productivity.
"Our hospitals are places of healing, and promoting health is central to Intermountain's mission," according to Larry Hancock, region vice president for Intermountain's hospitals in the Salt Lake Valley. "Offering a tobacco-free environment for our patients, guests and their families is the right thing to do."