Posted on Oct 5, 2019
Nationwide smoking ban at VA facilities has some veterans fuming
5.12K
44
18
13
13
0
I never smoked a day in my life so I cant speak to the hold it has on you but I lost my parents due to smoking related issues so I have no problem with this ban. When I go to the VA hospital, I have to walk by the smoking bus stop type of shack and it sickens me. When my wife died, I noticed one of the people doing CPR on her was a respiratory therapist who deals with the affects of smoking all day long. When I left the hospital to go home, i walked outside and who is outside smoking, the respiratory therapist! He saw me look at him and sort of said, yeah i know!
Nationwide smoking ban at VA facilities has some veterans fuming
Posted from militarytimes.comPosted in these groups: 
Smoking
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)Providence Hospital
Disabled Veterans
Smoking Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)Providence Hospital Disabled Veterans
Posted 6 y ago
Responses: 9
7
7
0
SPC Nancy Greene
I still smoke and I respect the sign! Effective 10/01/2019, the Durham VAMC instituted a No Smoking on VA property and I respect and adhere to their policy.
(2)
(0)
4
4
0
Like you SFC Farrell, I am a non-smoker but breathed 18 years of smoke to give me a bit of reactive airway disease. I will never forget the moment n 1972 when I was transferring a patient from our Base Hospital to our local VA Medical Center, which I would goose as my first choice to be hospitalized in Tucson. Anyway, I am steering the stretcher and my partner down to the patient’s room and keep my partner from drooling over every nurse he saw that I saw something that nearly drive me out of medicine: Here is a veteran ((I could later come to know m and treat a civilian Paramedic, who was smoking through his stoma....the hole in his trachea through which he breathed.
If hospitals allow smoking.....maybe that would be Like the Church sponsoring a symposium on....oh, you get the drift. Overcoming smoking is one of the most difficult addictions to control. I try to be supportive of the people, but their habit literally makes me ill. May the love and grace of God be with each of us as we struggle with the challenges of each day, as we continue to share the same grace that redeemed me.
If hospitals allow smoking.....maybe that would be Like the Church sponsoring a symposium on....oh, you get the drift. Overcoming smoking is one of the most difficult addictions to control. I try to be supportive of the people, but their habit literally makes me ill. May the love and grace of God be with each of us as we struggle with the challenges of each day, as we continue to share the same grace that redeemed me.
(4)
(0)
PO1 H Gene Lawrence
I was a 3 pack a day smoker for many years. In 1983 I decided I wanted t quit and did so cold turkey. I haven’t smoked since. It was the best thing I ever did for myself.
(2)
(0)
3
3
0
I am disgusted by everything that is smoking. It is dirty, smelly, and toxic. While I agree that people should be able to do as they wish, I also hate it when I have to walk past them on a sidewalk, parking lot, and the like taking in their second hand smoke. It would not be a problem if they stuck to designated areas but they don’t. For those of you who smoked following the rules, I am sorry that your peers ruined it for all of you. But truly I should not have to jeopardize my health because someone else chooses to. Thank you for your service.
(3)
(0)
PFC Ray Aquila
As mentioned prior in my statements. At the VAMC in West Palm Beach FL there is, and now "WAS" an area for smoking. If you past by this area you would have seen people smoking. Non-Smokers had the opportunity to walk away from the smoking area. Being outside, you would have had to walk close, or the way the wind was blowing to inhale second hand smoke (in the wind). Please do not give a partial explanation. This is the problem not the solution. In all the years the designated smoking area was in place. I never experienced anyone using sidewalks, etc. Tell the whole story. Don't pick and choose.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google