Hospital smokers abuse staff and public

An Evening News investigation found 23 people smoking near, or outside, the entrance of Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in little over an hour.
All hospital sites are due to go smoke-free by 2015 under Scottish Government legislation but anti-smoking campaigners and patient groups said action was needed now.
It comes as Unison chiefs warn there was at least one report of verbal abuse per week from NHS Lothian staff who have approached visitors, patients and colleagues asking them not to smoke outwith designated areas.Pall Mall cigarettes.
One senior NHS insider called the “foul-mouthed” abuse of staff by smokers “a real problem”.
It should be a place where the sick get better. But instead, the outside of our hospitals often resemble an advertisement for everything that is wrong with Scottish health.
Patients standing in their pyjamas, some attached to drips, smoke cigarette after cigarette, oblivious as the carcinogenic smoke blows back into the wards.
Alongside them are NHS Lothian staff who, like the patients, seemingly cannot be bothered walking the short distance to the designated smoking shelter.
Above is a large red sign that is ignored by all: No Smoking In This Area.
Frustrated staff who call security demanding action are told there’s nothing that can be done. “They just shout and swear at us. We can’t 
intervene.”
But today – amid a groundswell of support for action – NHS Lothian has been urged to immediately end its informal acceptance of smoking outside hospitals by staff and patients. Parliament cigarettes.
Health chiefs are facing demands to get tough after the Evening News captured staff and patients brazenly flouting rules at the flagship Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
We photographed dozens of uniformed staff and patients ignoring the warning signs and smoking just yards from the hospital building.
Though building work currently taking place has led to the smoking hut positioned outside A&E being cordoned off, over a 70-minute period only six people out of 29 observed smoking outside the building made any effort to stand near the smoking area. Eight people, including five who could be easily identified as hospital workers, were seen smoking directly outside one of the entrances to A&E – underneath a sign which clearly states smoking is prohibited.
All but one of the people seen smoking in this area used plastic chairs which appeared to have been left there specifically for people to sit on during a cigarette break.
Indeed, smoking directly outside has become so common that staff from Consort – which manages the ERI site – have been seen using leaf blowers to move the large number of cigarette butts lying on the ground.
NHS smoking policy states that staff who smoke are only permitted to do so “off NHS Lothian premises”. The 2006 policy also goes on to state: “They should also be aware that smoking during business hours, or whenever in uniform or wearing an identity badge, compromises the public health message.”
A spokeswoman for NHS Lothian said no decision had been made regarding a penalty for staff who continue to flout the rules, but said discussions were ongoing.
All hospital sites are due to go completely smoke free by 2015 under Scottish Government legislation but anti-smoking campaigners and patient groups said action was needed now.
Sheila Duffy, chief executive of ASH Scotland, said: “Genuinely smoke-free hospitals have an important part to play in changing the culture of our society, helping the next 
generation to grow up free from tobacco.
“We understand that nicotine is highly addictive and it is not always easy for patients to quit abruptly when admitted to hospital. But stop-smoking support should be available – and we need to see leadership from NHS staff, who have no excuse for not following their own policies.”
Union reps and disgruntled staff have been receiving abuse from smokers who refuse to stick to the rules.
Unison’s Tom Waterson said: “We have had reports from NHS Lothian staff members who unfortunately have been verbally abused by members of the public who they have approached and asked not to smoke outwith designated areas.
“I would estimate that at least once a week we hear concerns from staff members who have asked people to move to a designated area and who have been hassled as a ­result.”
One senior NHS insider called the “foul-mouthed” abuse of staff by smokers “a real problem”.
He said: “As a non-smoker I find it particularly galling that I’ve got to walk by people exhaling a cloud of cancer-causing smoke to get to my work.
“It’s a real problem. I have noticed patients have been getting a lot more abusive and gravitating away from their smoking shelters at a number of hospitals.
“Like most things, time passes, and people get lazy or forget what they’re supposed to do. But that’s never an 
excuse for people to direct foul-mouthed vitriol at staff asking them to do the correct thing and stub their cigarettes out.”
He added: “At the end of the day, we’re the people who deal with the other end of it – the throat and lung cancers and the heart attacks caused by smoking. It’s funny how unabusive people then can be when they’re in a room with us and really need us.”
The Scotland Patient Association has called on staff to set a better example but said more support from higher up was necessary to help them kick the habit.
Dr Jean Turner, of the Scotland Patient Association, said: “For many years now there have been large signs at hospital entrances saying you are entering a no smoking area, but it’s been plain to see that’s simply not true.
“A lot of the time you practically have to hold your breath when you’re walking to the entrance. You pass patients with drips smoking in their pyjamas and you’ll also see uniformed staff members smoking outwith the designated smoking shelters.

Pallmall 's Site on Strikingly

Pallmall 's Site on Strikingly

CST Brands reports slight decrease in revenues

Customers may see new soda and electronic cigarette offerings at some of CST Brands Inc.'s convenience stores as the locally based company aims to increase same-store sales in the second half of the year.
During CST's first earnings call since its spinoff from Valero Energy Corp. in May, executives said ZIP code-level data will help determine which cigarette promotions it will feature at each store and which nontraditional items, such as milk and ice, draw more customers.
At about 22 stores in San Antonio, the company already has tested new soda fountains that offer 120 drink choices, Chief of Marketing Hal Adams said. Also, CST plans to expand its highly profitable private-label products to locations in Canada.
CST released details of the new marketing initiatives, some of which have been in place for months, after reporting second-quarter earnings that showed same-store sales remained flat compared to the same period last year.
At existing U.S. stores, merchandise sales per site per day hit an average of $3,492 during the three months ending June 30, down 1 percent from the second quarter of 2012. The gross margin on those items, including cigarettes, also remained flat at 30 percent.
“It's just our normal course of business,” Adams said of the marketing plan. “We are a new company, but we are not a new business.”
When Valero spun off its nearly 2,000 retail stores in the U.S. and Canada, CST instantly became one of North America's largest independent retailers of transportation fuels and convenience merchandise.
“We have the advantage of having this momentum and a team that's been together for a very long time,” Adams said. Because of the spinoff, “we now have a little bit more resource to put (behind) retail rather than just being a subset of large Valero.
“There isn't any magic to those initiatives that we're working on, but they're definitely initiatives (aimed at) growing our same-store sales business,” he added.
In its earnings report, CST reported revenues of $3.2 billion, a 4 percent year-over-year decrease that still beat analysts' expectations. However, net income in the second quarter came in at $43 million, or 57 cents per diluted share, compared with $108 million, or $1.43 per diluted share, for the same three months last year.
Chief Financial Officer Clay Killinger explained that virtually the entire 60 percent drop in net income stemmed from a decline in CST's motor fuel gross margins.
Killinger estimated that CST ended its most recent quarter with more than $300 million in cash on hand. That should fund its plan to double the number of stores built in the U.S. next year while maintaining the current level of new construction in Canada, Killinger added.
Between January and June, CST opened five new stores, including its largest, in Three Rivers in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale boom.
During a conference call with analysts Tuesday, CEO Kim Bowers said sales in Canada had suffered from a strike among construction workers, whom she described as CST's “bread and butter” customers.
In contrast, the recovery of the U.S. housing and construction markets, especially in Texas, has led to much better sales here.
“We look at the Texas market as probably our strongest market in our network simply because it's backed by the oil workers (and) construction workers,” Bowers said. “They come in for breakfast, they come back at lunch (and) we usually see them after work when they pick up their beer and go home.”
The company's stock closed Tuesday at $33.26 on the Nasdaq, up 38 cents a share from the previous day's trading.

San Marcos City Council considers tougher smoking ordinance

San Marcos City Council has scheduled a public hearing Sept. 3 to gauge whether residents want to strengthen the city's smoking ordinance. The hearing is set for 7 p.m. at San Marcos City Hall.

San Marcos' current ordinance allows smoking in public places such as bars and restaurants. Since the ordinance was enacted in 1995, a number of other Central Texas cities—including Austin and San Antonio—have decided to ban smoking in most public indoor areas.
"Most people are surprised when you come to San Marcos and you can smoke in bars," Councilwoman Kim Porterfield said during a council meeting Aug. 20.
In a community survey conducted this spring, 47 percent of San Marcos residents agreed the city should enact stricter smoking regulations, while 26 percent disagreed, 21 percent were neutral and 5 percent said they did not know. Karelia cigarettes.
Council members directed city staff to draft a smoking ordinance that is a hybrid of Austin's 2005 ordinance and San Antonio's 2010 ordinance. Both ordinances establish nearly all indoor public places and all public parks as smoke-free areas. The ordinances exempt private residences, private clubs, outdoor areas of workplaces, retail tobacco stores and designated smoking rooms in hotels and motels.
"This is a lifesaving effort," San Marcos Mayor Daniel Guerrero said. "This is one of those health initiatives that will save lives, whether of someone working at that establishment or an individual frequenting that establishment."
Council members also discussed the possibility of exempting or grandfathering some businesses that allow smoking.
"We all agree smoking is bad for you," Councilman Wayne Becak said. "My concern is [for] individual property owners. I think there are some unique places in San Marcos, entertainment venues or whatever that allow smoking, and there are a certain amount of citizens who will always want to go to them."
The Aug. 20 discussion did not require a vote. However, council members said they believed City Council was the appropriate governing body to decide on changes to San Marcos' smoking ordinance. They did not discuss the possibility of placing the item on a future ballot for voters to decide.
In 2011, the city considered putting the item before voters in the November election but ultimately decided not to do so. That July, 97 people attended two open houses regarding public smoking in San Marcos.
At the open houses, 56 percent of attendees said smoking and second-hand smoke are problems in San Marcos, compared with 42 percent who said smoking and second-hand smoke were not a problem and 2 percent who had no opinion. When asked whether the city should further restrict smoking, 51 percent said yes, 48 percent said no and 1 percent had no opinion.
On Aug. 20, Sam Huenergardt, the president and CEO of Central Texas Medical Center, urged council members to strengthen the city's smoking ordinance.
"We have an opportunity here to take a step forward as a community," Huenergardt said. "We have a lot of business opportunities in front of us with companies looking at our workforce and evaluating, 'Is this a healthy workforce or not?' This can help us show that our city and citizens are dedicated to creating a better environment for each other."

Lodge bans smoking, sees membership surge

Toni Schaberick has tended bar at Venice Moose Lodge 1308 for quite a while.
"Long time," said Schaberick, "six and a half years."

She's also a smoker. So when she heard the lodge, the kind of place known for attracting smokers, was going to become smoke-free, she was skeptical.
"It's mixed feelings for me, because when I go out, having a drink, I like to be able to smoke at the bar," said Schaberick."
She admits though, the ban has made for a more enjoyable place to work; and the customers don't seem to mind it either.
"They love it," said Schaberick, "and I don't blame them there I don't like smoke when I'm eating either."
In fact, lodge leaders say their membership has exploded since passing the ban. They're now at more than 4,000 members. Classic cigarettes.
"I think what it's done is attract more of the non-smoking population which is ever increasing in our area of course," said current lodge governor Gil Nalley.
Not just in the area, but across the whole country. Data from the CDC shows that in 2012, the number of smokers fell from twenty-eight percent of the population to twenty-three percent.
"I think it's definitely the trend in terms of health...the trend of non-smoking and I think this dovetails right into that trend," said Nalley.
The lodge still keeps a smoking section on a connected patio, but says more members are joining because there's less smoke.
"I had seven couples that wouldn't join," said member "Junie" Fontana, "the minute we went non-smoking, all seven couples joined."
And as the number of smokers continues to fall, some say so to will the number of establishments offering a place to light up.
"I wouldn't doubt very shortly that all the lodges are going to go non-smoking," said Fontana.