Duarte : Hospital Smoking Ban

Santa Teresita Hospital may ban smoking by the end of the year if its smoke-free task force gets its way.

“We get so busy taking care of patients we forget to take care of ourselves,” said Sara Goodno, cancer coordinator and chairwoman of the task force.

The hospital’s board of directors will consider within a month a proposal to ban smoking in hospital rooms and eliminate all three designated smoking areas outside the facility, she said.

Free programs to help smokers break the habit would be made available to staff and patients, she said. The hospital banned smoking in its lounges more than two years ago.