On August 18, 2008, Denver City Council voted to support my ordinance prohibiting smoking on public property adjoining hospitals.

Well-documented research shows that second-hand smoke is dangerous to our health. It is especially dangerous to people who already suffer from cardiovascular or respiratory problems. As a result, Denver-area hospitals are becoming 100 percent tobacco free.

Despite hospital campus policies, smokers still cluster on city sidewalks and grassy areas around hospitals. Sick people have to maneuver through this smoke to enter the hospital, and there is nothing that hospitals can do about this health danger to their patients.

My ordinance states that effective November 20, 2008, people can no longer smoke on public property adjoining hospitals, from the hospital property line to the far edge of the curb or gutter. I felt that this was an important step in supporting Denver hospitals. Patients should not have to further risk their health to go to a hospital.

I recognize that prohibiting smoking next to hospitals may encourage smokers to move to other locations. If a hospital is located in a residential neighborhood, the ordinance could have the unintended result of pushing smokers into the neighborhood.

I personally discussed this concern with Denver’s largest hospital systems and asked them to develop hospital plans to help minimize the impact to neighborhoods. These plans include written employee policies, 24-hour phone numbers for residents to report problems, stepped-up smoking cessation programs and low-cost nicotine patches.

The ordinance passed with a two-year sunset provision. The ordinance will have to be reconsidered and voted upon in two years in order for it to continue. Council members who joined me in supporting this non-smoking ordinance were Doug Linkhart, Chris Nevitt, Paul Lopez, Judy Montero, Michael Hancock, Rick Garcia and Carla Madison. Council members who voted against the ordinance were Charlie Brown, Jeanne Faatz, Marcia Johnson, Jeanne Robb and Peggy Lehmann. 

I believe our vulnerable patients will appreciate safer, smoke-free visits to the hospital. I am thankful for the support from community leaders, hospital leaders and health advocacy groups including the American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Colorado Asthma Coalition and Colorado Tobacco Education and Prevention Alliance.