‘Lights’ out at St. Joseph’s rehab
By EMILY HUNKLER, Enterprise Staff WriterSARANAC LAKE - While St. Joseph's Rehabilitation Center has helped its residents deal with addictions to drugs and alcohol since 1971, the vast majority of them have held tight to one dependency: tobacco. Starting today, residents here and at treatment centers across the state will be forced to kick the habit.
The transition, which applies to addiction treatment centers across the state, is a result of regulations from the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS).
OASAS is the licensing agency for addiction treatment centers in the state. New York is the first state to enact tobacco-free regulations at all addiction treatment centers.
Suzanne Goolden, St. Joseph's inpatient services director, said it only makes sense to address nicotine addiction along with other substance abuse.
"One of the things that drives the regulations is the risk of tobacco," Goolden said. "It is an addictive substance and can be diagnosed in much the same way as cocaine and heroin dependence."
According to OASAS, the smoking rate in New York is now 18.2 percent; however, it is as high as 92 percent among the 1.8 million New Yorkers who are dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction.
According to Goolden, of the more than 50 residents at St. Joseph's only eight of them are non-smokers. St. Joseph's would not let its residents be interviewed citing confidentiality, but Goolden anticipates a tough transition for some of them.
"Some of our residents have said that they are going to leave and some of them have already left, saying, 'It's a hard process, and now on top of it all, I can't smoke,'" Goolden said.
Residents at St. Joseph's are confined to the property for the majority of their stay, Goolden said, meaning that opportunities to smoke are far and few between.
However, Goolden said they have been preparing for the transition for some time.
"We've known about this regulation for almost two years," Goolden said. "We have had help developing quit plans for our clients and we are utilizing Chantix as a support to them to help make the transition to a tobacco-free lifestyle." According to its Web site, Chantix is non-nicotine prescription medicine specifically developed to help adults to quit smoking.
According to OASAS, treatment centers are aided in this effort by an $8 million grant from the state Department of Health that goes toward funding free training services for staff and nicotine replacement therapies at no cost to the patients who do not have insurance coverage for those materials.
Goolden said St. Joseph's has also been dwindling the number of smoke breaks in the schedule, and the on-site store stopped selling cigarettes last week.
"It's not like we just turned off the switch; we have been planning for this," Goolden said. "We will see what happens when the reality hits."
St. Joseph's inpatient facility is located at 159 Glenwood in Saranac Lake, while their outpatient treatment centers are in Saranac Lake, Malone, Elizabethtown and Ticonderoga.
Contact Emily Hunkler at 891-2600 ext. 24 or ehunkler@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.
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noahsnana
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07-26-08 9:24 AM
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Bravo, snogood.With the world filling up with obese kids, and all the medical dangers that go along with it, you have a valid point.
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Snogood
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07-25-08 8:35 AM
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Unbelievable! These people are trying to kick one or perhaps two addictions which is difficult enough, now the state throws another hurdle in their already tough path. Oh, by the way; eating at McDonalds several times a week is also hazardous to your health. When is the state going to start monitoring soccer mom's feeding their kids from Mickey D's?
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jackkk
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07-24-08 5:38 PM
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Another step toward creeping Fascism.
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noahsnana
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07-24-08 4:24 PM
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I have to disagree strongly with this policy. Having had a son in law who went thru treatment there and did very well,and still is, the risk of patients leaving because of this is not a good thing.I feel it is much more crucial to treat the alchoholism,first, and worry about the smoking later.My humble opinion.
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