smoking up the joint -- part 2

Recently I had the opportunity to have lunch with the faculty of two of our allied health programs -- Respiratory Therapy and Radiography. I mentioned how nice it would be if we could find some one to provide funding for a "stop smoking" program for the students in these programs.

The faculty agreed that it would be desirable for students to quit, but that stop smoking programs had been made available in the past with no success. One program a few years ago, not only provided all the services for free, but also offered to pay the students a substantial stipend for completing the program (not for stopping smoking, but just for completing the entire program). Not one of the students to whom this opportunity was offered were willing to participate. As my husband likes to say "it reeked of effort," and they weren't willing to put forth the effort.

There was a news story this week about more than a 1,000 people standing in line to apply for 35 jobs as firefighters in the Miami, Florida area, included the interesting tidbit, that initial screening would weed out all applicants who did not have the minimum education (high school diploma), were not residents within the appropriate municipal area, and who were smokers -- only non-smokers would be considered for hiring. This is the wave of the future. Perhaps as tobacco becomes less and less important as a crop in Kentucky (the current trend is downward), fiscal conservatism will triumph and see smokers as the drain on employers that they are.

smoking up the joint - in Kentucky

One day during this past fall term, I stepped into the elevator at work, and was nearly overcome by the stench of cigarette smoke. Since smoking is prohibited in all state buildings, including college buildings, I wondered if someone had been smoking in the parking garage (also not allowed, but not enforced on our campus), next to the elevator access door.

I mentioned the smell to one of our staff. He explained the source of the problem. The majority of the students in our respiratory care program smoke, and when they get their short breaks, they rush, en mass, from their third floor classroom, to the elevator and step outside the building, where they fire up their smokes for 10 minutes, and then at the last minute cram themselves back in the elevator carrying the putrid smell with them.

I have always found it disturbing that such a high percentage of our students smoke, and that every break between classes is a cigarette break. But as an asthma sufferer, I find it obscene that the majority of our respiratory care students are smokers. These are the people who hope to be entrusted with the care of people who suffer from breathing disorders.

Kentucky ranks number 1 in the percentage of adults who are smokers. More than 28 percent of Kentuckians smoke (2007 CDC report) . A study done in 1999-2000 found that 23 percent of pregnant women in Kentucky smoked. Though I have no hard data, I'm certain that both figures are higher in eastern Kentucky than in the urban portions of the state.

The political power of tobacco interests and smokers in Kentucky shows in the low cigarette taxes; only 30 cents per twenty-pack in 2008, lower by at least half compared to all but one of the state surrounding Kentucky. Other evidence of political power: the state of Kentucky has declared smokers a "protected class," and it is illegal to discriminate against smokers in employment and education (Cincinnati Enquirer October 22,2008), despite the well documented fact that smokers are more expensive employees than non-smokers. They are more likely to be absent, their medical costs are higher on average, and they always seem to be out taking a smoking break when you need them.

It seems more than reasonable to me that being a non-smoker should be a requirement for entry into certain fields of employment -- respiratory therapy being one of those. If nothing else, allied health programs (nursing, respiratory care, radiography, physical therapy assistant, and so forth) ought to put a high priority on developing "quit smoking" programs for their students. Many medical facilities, even in Kentucky, are creating smoke free campuses; that is they are eliminating smoking not only in all their buildings, but in all the outside areas between the buildings. Imagine being some one who smokes a pack or more a day, and discovering that in your job at a hospital or medical complex that you have to walk a block or more, and then stand on a busy public street in order to smoke. The Appalachian Regional Hospital (ARH) chain that serves eastern Kentucky has not yet moved in the direction of smokeless campuses, but not all graduates of allied health programs in eastern Kentucky will remain in the region.

Kentucky needs to consider raising cigarette taxes as well. It makes good health policy and would provided needed revenue.

TV -- my drug of choice

I watch too much television. This is a fact. Unfortunately it is now a fact that all my husband's statistics students also know. A few days ago, I met one of his students (a former student of mine) in the grocery store. Her first words to me were -- "I hear that you watch 5 hours of TV a day, and that the first thing you do when you get home from work is turn on the TV."

Okay, my husband exaggerated a little bit. He said he would claim the John Kerry defense -- he was trying to make a joke and it misfired. But there was enough truth in it to make me very uncomfortable. So this week the television has stayed off, except for our one hour addiction to LOST on Wednesday nights [WOW -- didn't expect to find out that John Locke broke his back when his father pushed him out a window. Definitely did not see that one coming -- which is of course why we love LOST].

The result -- I actually managed to read several chapters of Friedman's The World is Flat, that I put down after about a hundred pages more than 6 months ago. And, I realized why it is that I do watch so much TV rather than reading, writing or thinking -- despite the fact that I often find myself craving time to do exactly that.

The reason is because TV blots out thought, real thought. Thoughts that are disturbing, exciting, dangerous; thoughts that could lead to real change and action. It is a drug. Even when you watch something that could potentially stimulate thought, there is no time to process the thought. No time to take it in, roll it around, associate it with other thoughts -- things one can do while reading and talking. The TV just marches relentlessly along and drags you on to the next moment.

I realized that I wasn't really using TV to entertain me. I was using it to put me to sleep, so that I wouldn't have to think; wouldn't have to deal with the sorry mess of things in human societies. This week I remembered what it was like to be really engaged again. So we're going to try to keep this up -- shutting of the "god damned noisy box" (Heinlein) -- except of course for LOST night. Wouldn't want to let go of all our vices!