R.I. hospitals to go smoke free

PROVIDENCE -- Every hospital in Rhode Island will be smoke free by November.

The Hospital Association of Rhode Island announced Wednesday that effective Nov. 20 - the day of The Great American Smokeout - members would make their campuses tobacco free.

Smoking will be prohibited everywhere on hospital grounds, including outside areas.

Some hospitals will dismantle the special smoking shelters they now provide. One hospital will forbid its employees to leave hospital grounds to smoke while on duty.

State Health Director Dr. David Gifford praised the decision, saying it sets a great example.

The smoking ban was the idea of Dr. Kathleen Hittner, president and chief executive of Miriam Hospital and chairwoman of the hospital association's board of trustees.