Monash Children’s Hospital School students have lent their voices to a new Smoke-Free pilot campaign at Monash Medical Centre and Monash Children’s Hospital (MCH), reinforcing the message that Monash Health is a smoke and vape-free environment.
The MCH School offers young patients the opportunity to continue with their schoolwork while recovering in hospital, allowing the students not to be defined by their health condition, and offers an extra unit of support.
Three students aged 8 to 15 volunteered to participate in the Smoke-Free Campaign and recorded several audio messages which are being broadcast over loudspeakers at the entrances of both hospitals. A parent and an employee have also voiced messages.
MCH School Principal Colin Dobson, who helped arrange for the recordings to take place, said the campaign aligned with the students’ beliefs and that they were excited to be a part of this project.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the patients’ willingness and desire to convey key messages to the public about not smoking (or vaping) near our hospitals. A couple of the students were powerful advocates for this non-smoking campaign and were extremely articulate about the reasons for their beliefs,” Colin said.
“They felt strongly that they should have the right to enter the hospital without having to bypass people smoking,” he added.
Although Monash Health sites are smoke and vape free, hundreds of people are observed smoking across all sites.
Research has demonstrated that there was a decline in smoking at the entrance of hospitals when smoke-free messages were played at regular intervals, with short periods of silence in between, and using children’s voices made the environment less appealing for smoking.
Katrina Stevenson, Smoke-free Project Lead and Health Promotion Practitioner has said “We hope that by listening to these messages from young people in the care of Monash Health, it will influence people to stop smoking on site.”
The audio recordings will be played over a four-week trial period, with variations in the time of day to see what is most effective, Katrina added “We looked at the results of the Peninsula Health Smoke Free research project, which showed fewer cigarettes were smoked when announcements were played 3 minutes apart.
“The committee looked at the busy times when our clients, visitors and employees are on site. These times are between 8 am to 9 pm.
“We also wanted to make sure that the messages aren’t played in the late evening or early morning to allow for our patients to get plenty of rest”, Katrina said.
During the trial, the Smoke-free Project Team welcomes feedback. The best way to get in contact is to email smokefree@monashhealth.org.
Monash Health can support you in your quit journey. Accessing the Quitline (QUIT) is free, please call 13 QUIT or 13 7848 or visit quit.org.au. Referrals are not needed; anyone can access Quitline.
Or you can ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice on how to quit.
Extra resources
- For more information on vaping visit the Vaping Facts page
- I want to help a loved one or friend quit
- Download a brochure for a plan to quit
- I am part of or want to help someone in the LGBTIQ+ community to quit
- If you would like to speak to an Aboriginal Quitline counsellors
- To access self-help materials: Tips Hub, QuitCoach, QuitText, or My Quit Buddy
If you want further information on the work of the Smoke-free Team, please contact them at smokefree@monashealth.org.