Naughty girls' room to go

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 311, 31 October 1989, Page 1

Naughty girls' room to go

The naughty girls' room (recently renamed the "naughty persons' room" for obvious reasons) at the Waimarino Hospital has to go.

The room was set aside for smokers, both patients and staff, about nine months ago as part of a plan to make most of the hospital building smoke free. Now the Wanganui Area Health Board has banned smoking on all of its premises, apart from staff accommodation and psychiatric units. But some of the Waimarino staff say that's not fair and that the system they had was working. "It's taking away our rights," says nursesmoker Barbara Dempsey. She and other staff say the "naughty girls' room" system has worked well and has kept the rest of the hospital's atmo-

sphere smoke free. Other smoking staff (there are seven out of the 17 nursing staff) say, grudgingly, that the ban will be good for them in the long run, but that they don't like it. "Health professionals such as nurses shouldn't smoke, of cOurse," says Pam Kenedy, a smoker. But she says it's hard to give up. The reason for the ban is that the board has a responsibility to promote healthy living and that it is incongruous to have smoking in health care buildings. Also, there is a high demand for health serTurnpagel

Waiouru rent

From page 1 ket tenancy was important. He said there appeared to be no higher court decision on that point. Spokesman for the applicant in this case, Lt Col Clive Sinclair said they were pleased with the decision and would not be seeking a High Court opinion and the Ministry of Defence is yet to make a decision on seeking an

opinion. The tenancy bond division has received 300 Waiouru rent appeal applications and expects to receive up to 600. All will remain on file until Major Robinson's case is resolved. Lt Col Sinclair said he would be very interested to see if the Tribunal decision would have a flow on effect on rentals.