Believing that building a healthier community starts with leading by example, Nash Health Care announced that its entire campus will become tobacco-free on March 21, 2008. While the facilities of Nash Health Care ---Nash General Hospital, Nash Day Hospital, the Bryant T. Aldridge Rehabilitation Center and Coastal Plain Hospital - have been tobacco-free for several years, this new ban will apply to the entire campus.

The policy will apply to everyone on the Nash Health Care campuses, including employees, visitors and all guests. On March 21, 2008, no tobacco product may be used on campus, including inside hospital buildings, vehicles, parking lots or anywhere on the hospital grounds or in hospital facilities. Currently, smoking is allowed on campus in designated areas outdoors. However, when the policy goes into effect in March, smoking or the use of tobacco products  will not be allowed anywhere on the hospital campus--inside or outdoors.

Nash Health Care will be joining an estimated 95 health care organizations across the state that already are or are in the process of becoming tobacco-free. Hospitals across the state have discovered that implementing tobacco-free policies not only promotes healthy behavior, but also saves money by reducing health care costs and sick days.

This tobacco-free hospital initiative was led by the North Carolina Hospital Foundation.

The foundation received a grant from the Duke Endowment to encourage and support all hospitals in North Carolina to establish tobacco-free campuses by 2009. The NCHF is an affiliate of the North Carolina Hospital Association (NCHA).  The North Carolina Hospital Association is the statewide trade association representing 131 hospitals and health systems. NCHA promotes improved delivery of quality healthcare in North Carolina through leadership, advocacy, information, and education in its members' interest and for public benefit.

Nash Health Care is a county-owned hospital authority comprised of four distinct hospitals on one campus: Nash General Hospital, Nash Day Hospital, Coastal Plain Hospital and the Bryant T. Aldridge Rehabilitation Center.