I haven't seen it since the late 90's maybe, but was happy to see it's still out there. Besides being pretty amusing, I'm always one for an attention getting way to remind everyone out there to avoid smoking. Yet, somehow, amidst the barrage of bad press the message is just not getting through and it seems the ones who have the most to lose by smoking are the ones who can't get away from it. What's with that?
It never ceases to amaze me that no matter what time of day I show up to work there is always someone out smoking on the curb. And I work at a hospital! It's generally the food service people, techs and nurses and being that our hospital has a "non smoking campus" anyone wanting to light up has to take the walk of shame down to the 3 foot boulevard along the street where it's technically city property.
It didn't used to be that way. Or at least I'm told from the doctors and nurses who have been around long enough that it used to be the doctors who smoked the most and were the only ones allowed to smoke inside (where they would puff away in their offices until the ceiling was black). But they've gotten the bigger picture now and left the problem with the rest of the employees who are frequently encouraged to quit. Some do, to their credit, but others just tune it out and go on turning their lungs to tar.
As a cyclist and endurance sports fanatic this makes no sense to me. My heart and lungs are my engine and are nurtured with the utmost care. But as a medical profession the I'm aware the cost is much greater than having a little extra trouble running or walking up stairs. Set aside the big ones (cancer and heart disease) that get all the attention and there are a plethora of other reasons that are worth putting out that smoke, such as narrowing of blood vessels which leads to difficulty healing in places all over the body like your mouth. Not to mention the cost is ridiculous. The number of patients I meet in the emergency department who say they can't afford ibuprofen but are smoking a pack or two a day is unimaginable.
Thankfully the word is getting out, although, more slowly than you would think. Bowling alleys and bars are now bearable with indoor clean air acts like MN and many other states have taken the time to enact. Some colleges and universities have even gone as far as to make their campuses smoke free. And for some reason this meets resistance...weird, no? Obviously I could go on all day about this, but I'll stop banging my head against the wall and leave you with this, my favorite bumper sticker saying:
"Isn't a smoking area in a restaurant kind of like a peeing area in a pool?"
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