If they are so worried about my health....

[jo272wv]

Come November my hospital is implimenting a no smoking on hospital property. The reason is to promote better health of the staff and pts. I smoke and I am in the process of trying to quit d/t it will take to long to leave the grounds to smoke and I do not want to go thru withdraw every night I work. Plus its not a bad idea to quit anyways.

Now I am also over weight along with many of my co workers. I joined they ymca recently for about four hundred dollars a year. Most of my co workers refuse to pay this amount but would work out if it was available for less cost. Now my question is, if a hospital is so concerned about employee health, why not build a gym in the hospital that employees can use before or after work? This would benifit more workers then kicking smokers off hospital grounds.

Do any of you have gyms at your hospital and is it a positive thing?

[lauralassie]

No. But I think it would be wounderful. I uses to work at Clinton Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, Ohio. We could go up to rehab after work and use that equpment.. But now I'm at a MAGNET hospital. They say they are # 53 in nation for best employer. It's like you say, if they were worried about the good health of emloyee's they would have adequate staff, have better food in the cafateria, (or better yet , actually have some where for night shifters to eat or take a break), and worry about how beat up their staff is by the work load. They did offer quit smoking classes for smokers, I don't smoke but a lot of people seemed to take advantage of it. I'm with you though, they need to worry about the health of their staff more. A healthy staff are better at productivity.

[Sugar9486]

We have a small gym in my hospital, but there are not many people who use it. I think part of that is the placement though, they have the gym in the basement, and the basement of my facility is a little creepy, there isn't much down there besides central and our transport office, but at night it's pretty vacant, so no one that I know uses it. We do however get discounted prices for a local gym, I know quite a few people who have taken advantage of this. This however doesn't really help me because I work about an hour away from my work, so it's kind of out of the way for me to go there to work out

Our facility just recently went to a nonsmoking facility.. I'm a smoker, but most of the nurses I work with are not, even the nonsmokers think that it is a joke... Our facility just started "locking" down the hospital from 9-5 and only has one employee entrance.. however the employee entrance is always unlocked (what sense does that make) and it is in a non lit area (no very smart either) and there are no security gaurds near by (they said there would be especially once we realized the doors were unlocked even though we were told the would be locked) so we figure if they can't keep get security to patrol the door, theres no way they are going to control people smoking in the parking lot... what a bunch of, well um, not nice things :)

[TazziRN, RN]

The last place I worked had a small gym, free for employees, but it wasn't used much because it was too small. Too many people wanted to use it so they started a sign-up list. That got old real fast.

[Katnip, RN]

Double check with HR. A lot of hospitals do subsidize gym memberships, but tend to not advertise it much.

Also, check with your health insurance. I was shocked to find mine pays in full for some gym memberships, discounts others, pays for yoga and mediation classes, and massage therapy.

[kukukajoo, LPN]

You can now deduct the cost of weight loss and gym memberships from your taxes- check out the IRS site. There are a few conditions but may be worth it.

Also my insurance will reimburse for much of the expense- you may want to check if yours does or if your hospital can add this benefit on next round of insurance renewals.

[Julie_Bean]

There is a gym available at my hospital from 7p to 7a. during the day it is used for cardiac rehab and other PT and rehab stuff BUT of all the people that are employed at my hospital hardly anyone takes advantage of this and there is plenty of room and exercise equipment!

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

we dont have a gym, but we are allowed to use the cardiac rehab equipment during nights. But I work nights so I cant. I agree, they should have something for workers, even if its a place to walk peacefully without patients around. If our hospital goes smoke-free, I wont be able to handle it. I want to quit, but cant right now. My nerves couldnt handle it. Its a good stress reliever to get off the floor, smoking area is basically the only place to go at night.

[grace90, LPN, LVN]

Do any of you have gyms at your hospital and is it a positive thing?

Yeah, ours does, it's in the basement. It has about 8 treatmills, a few exercise bikes, a stepper, a workout ball, a huge nautilus, and a couple other things, so it's pretty good. It's free to all employees, too.

[tntnkna]

The hospital I work at provides the cardio rehab equipment like a lot of you. Our hours are better (available more), but still not many people use it. We do also offer a discount on a YMCA membership for hospital employees. (Well the Y does. The hospital doesn't pay anything for it). Three of our local YMCA's have the hospital's rehab/therapy clinics within the Y's. Best of all.....I work at one of those YMCA's as well. (and at the main hospital) It confuses patients sometimes. You know how it is when you see someone away from where you usually see them. And then they see me both places. They like that though when they figure it out.

It is a really neat partnership with the two. It works real well particularly as people (patients) finish up their physical or cardio rehab. Then we (the YMCA) offer them a discount on a regular, full usage YMCA membership.

You'd think I have absolutely no excuse not to be working out pretty much daily, wouldn't you?

tammy

[Tiwi]

The hospital I work at has a gym, developed over many years, by the staff themselves. They now have a number of machines, and while one may have to pay, all the money does go to the gym and is spent on maintenance and new equipment. The cost is neglible, so it is worth it.

Our hospital itself has provided a swimming pool, and squash courts. So we are pretty lucky.

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

My hospital has a free gym as well as a walking trail inside. Free to all employees.

They also give out free nicotine patches for those employees trying to quit. We have a smoke free campus as well where I work. I smoked for years so I do understand how hard it is to quit but you can do it!!