Published: January 24, 2008 08:20 am      

Laurel Crest smoking-hut workers to cost $100G

EBENSBURG — Laurel Crest, Cambria County’s nursing home, will be spending more than $100,000 a year to pay five attendants to monitor residents’ smoking round the clock.

With the administrator estimating that 20 of the 286 residents are smokers, that cost averages out to $5,287 per smoker.

But that’s less than what the county has been paying nurse’s aides and other employees to monitor the smokers in a smoke hut outside the home, officials say.

Last week, the county commissioners – citing concern about fire dangers – agreed to hire five attendants to monitor the smoking, a privilege long allowed at Laurel Crest.

The attendants will be paid $8.34 an hour, or $17,350 a year, each, said Ron Baker, the county’s human resources director. With fringe benefits costing $3,800 a year for single-family coverage per employee, the total cost comes to $105,750 a year in wages and benefits.

None of that is reimbursable through either state or federal funds, Administrator Deborah Nesbella said.

County officials, mindful of the hazards of second-hand smoke, will have a booth erected by the smoke-hut to isolate the attendant from the smoke area.

But the attendant will have quick access to the hut, probably through a sliding door, to assist the smokers, they said.

Commissioners have been reluctant to halt all smoking by residents, viewing it as a quality-of-life issue that permits a person to smoke in what is his or her home.

But that could change, President Commissioner P.J. Stevens said Tuesday. However, it would not happen overnight – forcing residents to quit “cold turkey.”

“This has been discussed before, and it got put on the back burner last year,” he said.

Stevens suggested officials may set a date for Laurel Crest to become smoke-free, which he said would enable:

• New residents to be made aware upon admission of the no-smoking policy.

• Current residents who smoke to be provided with smoking-cessation materials and counseling.

Nesbella, who has worked at other nursing homes, said the trend is for the facilities to become smoke-free.