Sep 25, 2007 - 03:47 PM

By Lesley Bovie

WHITBY -- A smoking ban at Whitby Mental Health Centre is forcing clients to go off the grounds and light up on Town property.

Local councillors say they want to negotiate a "safer and more friendly" place for clients to light up, but officials at Whitby Mental Health Centre say they aren't willing to consider designated smoking areas on site.

To do so goes against the philosophy of creating a healthy environment at WMHC, said Janice Dusek, chief nursing officer and vice-president of strategic development.

"We're a health facility. We need to model the way and one way to do that is not to have smoking on our property," explained Ms. Dusek.

WMHC went smoke free June 1, prohibiting clients, staff and visitors from smoking anywhere within the facility or on its grounds, including the waterfront trail that meanders through the property.

Whitby councillors argue the policy has meant clients now congregate across from the centre's entrance on Gordon Street in a parking lot where waterfront trail users park their cars to walk the trails.

Residents in the nearby Whitby Shores neighbourhood have also complained about smoking clients gathering in their community to the west of the centre.

"There haven't been any harmful confrontations but a few residents say they feel intimidated where the smoking is taking place," said Councillor Elizabeth Roy.

She worries a new park bordering the WMHC and recently renamed Suse Eggert Parkette, could become a new gathering place for the centre's smokers.

Coun. Roy points out other hospitals like the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto have designated smoking areas on their property, even though their buildings are smoke-free.

"I believe Whitby Mental Health Centre is pushing it too far (by not offering designated smoking areas)," she added.

Ms. Dusek said WMHC can't stop its clients from smoking on public property. However, clinic staff have been visiting the parking lot regularly to deter clients from gathering there by offering smoking-cessation programs and other information about the harmful effects of smoking.

She believes it's had an impact with less clients lighting up at the parking lot.

Before going smoke-free, WMHC spent six months preparing clients and staff for the big change. It modelled its policy after the Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene, which banned smoking a few years ago.

"Historically, mental health centres have had a culture of smoking," explained Dr. David McNeill, medical director of integrated health at WMHC. "It's a combination of sedentary lifestyle and the fact everybody else smokes."

Statistics show 70 per cent of people with schizophrenia are smokers, as compared to less than 20 per cent of the general population. Many are heavy smokers, puffing more than 20 cigarettes a day.

"Lung cancer is twice as prevalent, chronic bronchitis is three times as common and emphysema is five times more prevalent," Dr. McNeill added.

Although it's too soon to have actual statistics, he said many clients have stopped smoking at WMHC since the ban. Those who still do, smoke less.

Staff are also spending less time managing smoking habits and all the safety issues surrounding them and more time on programming for clients, Dr. McNeill said.

"We've had a fundamental shift inside this place. People are much more mobilized," he added.

Providing a designated smoking area at WMHC would be "like taking a step back" in his opinion.

Still, negotiations between WMHC and the Town are "ongoing," Communications and Marketing Services Director Peter LeBel recently told council. Whitby would like the centre to consider clients use a road allowance at the very end of Gordon Street near Iroquois Beach that would move them out of the parking lot.

Councillors argue WMHC needs to take some ownership of the issue.

Ms. Dusek said WMHC isn't completely comfortable with its clients smoking on Town property either but she feels the centre is being a good neighbour by trying to change smoking behaviours and improve the health of its clients.