[NEWS-JOURNALONLINE] Starting Jan. 1, Bert Fish Medical Center will no longer hire tobacco users, joining two other local hospitals in telling smokers not to apply.Applicants will be tested for a nicotine byproduct and sign an agreement to remain tobacco-free during their employment with the New Smyrna Beach public hospital. The prohibition doesn't apply to volunteers, medical staff or Bert Fish's roughly 700 employees who were hired before the implementation date.
"We are in the health care business, and we should be a role model," said Nancy Evolga, executive director of human resources for the 112-bed hospital. "There is 50 years of data that says tobacco use is bad."