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McCarty Center
Going Tobacco Free
The J. D. McCarty Center
for children with developmental disabilities
in Norman has announced that it will become
a tobacco free campus beginning Thursday, January
1, 2009.
"We're going beyond smoke free," said
employee health/infection control nurse Christa
Boren, LPN. "By going tobacco free we are
asking employees and visitors to reframe from
using any kind of tobacco product while on our
campus."
The Cerebral Palsy Commission, the McCarty Center's
board of directors, made the decision to take
the hospital tobacco free last February. Since
that time the hospital has been preparing employees,
patient families and visitors for the change.
In order to help employees transition into a
tobacco free environment the McCarty Center
has offered smoking cessation classes to any
employee and their immediate family members
who were interested in quiting. Smoking cessation
classes have been taught by Maria Greenfield,
director of occupational therapy, and Uwe von
Schamann, director of development. Greenfield
and von Schamann underwent certification training
from the American Lung Association to act as
facilitators of these classes.
"We've had several employees take advantage
of these classes," said Boren, "while
we've had other employees who have been able
to quit entirely on their own or at least go
through an eight hour shift without smoking.
As to alerting the public about our impending
change, we have had signage up in high traffic
areas around the building for several months,"
added Boren.
"By going tobacco free we believe that
we are contributing to the improved health environment
of our patients, our employees and the community
at large," Boren concluded.
The McCarty Center is Oklahoma's center of excellence
in the care and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, by the 40 et 8 of Oklahoma, an honor society
within the American Legion, the hospital only
treated one diagnosis in its early days of operation…cerebral
palsy. Today the McCarty Center has treated
more than 70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category. The McCarty Center is the
only hospital of its kind in the state. In an
average year, the McCarty Center will see children
from 70 of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
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