Prevention Matters

Wonders never seem to cease these days in North Carolina, where Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has become the first hospital in the state to achieve statewide "gold star" status for its tobacco-cessation programs. The rating was issued by N.C. Prevention Partners, the advocacy group that successfully lobbied for every acute-care hospital in the state to become 100 percent tobacco free. The home of Winston and Salem became the first state to achieve the milestone.

However, a reporter with the Winston-Salem Journal popped by the main campus of Wake Forest Baptist and found that there's still work to be done to gain 100 percent compliance from employees, visitors and patients.

"About 35 people braved the blustery weather for a smoke around noon, primarily in public areas along the sidewalk, a covered city-bus stop or the Shell service station on Cloverdale Avenue that's yards away from the system's Comprehensive Cancer Center," writes Richard Craver.