Nearby residents of St. Joseph's Health Centre say they've made peace, for the most part, with the challenges of living in close proximity to a hospital. However, they draw the line at the steady stream of smokers congregated outside their properties.
"As a neighbour of St. Joseph's for 15 years, we accept many of the issues of noise, traffic, light pollution etc. to a certain extent, however, putting up with groups of strangers smoking at your front door is just plain intolerable," said Barb McLean, a Glendale Avenue homeowner, in an email to CEO Carolyn Baker, Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks and MPP Cheri DiNovo.
Since the Ontario Smoke Free Act came into effect in 2006, smokers cannot light up any closer than nine metres from the hospital. The legislation has pushed smokers farther away from the health centre's doorways and onto the sidewalk in front of residential homes, McLean said.
"It's disconcerting to have groups of strangers standing there staring at your front door," she said in a recent interview.
Not only are they out at all hours, said McLean, but they offer unsolicited comments.
"Once, my son was wearing his (Toronto Maple) Leafs jersey and they said, 'Oh, your son likes the Leafs,'" she cited as just one example. "This is not a normal situation in a residential area."
McLean sympathizes with her neighbour Halina Jakowski, whose concerns, she said are valid. Jakowski, also a Glendale Avenue resident, lives with her three young children, four, two and seven months, in her childhood home, which her parents bought more than 35 years ago. It's across from St. Joe's Emergency department.
"We get to come out of our house and pass by smokers every day," she said. "Sometimes, you try to cross the road and they won't budge with their cigarettes. They've been forced out onto the street - they're angry. The poor people smoking have no shelter. They stand in front of my house under a few measly trees. They're standing out there in their hospital gowns with the IV bags, half-naked."
McLean said she has seen improvement since August when hospital staff added a bench and a place to discard cigarette butts outside of Glendale House, the hospital's withdrawal management program.
"We really felt that since people with drug addictions were staying there 24 hours a day that they should have a place to smoke on hospital property," she said. "The difference is unbelievable."
Indeed, the health centre is addressing the community's concerns, said Rick Edwards, director of community engagement and urban health. Last month, he spoke to the Sunnyside Community Association about the centre's smoke-free progress and initiatives. In June, the hospital hosted a design charette, he said. The health centre has improved its butt-stop locations, provided additional signage regarding the butt-stops and continues to monitor the situation.
"We've seen there are certain places smokers seem to congregate," said Edwards. "What we've tried to do is shift them away from some of the hot spots and pull them into areas that are a little more acceptable. We don't want to accommodate smoking, but we need to accommodate smokers to a certain extent."
McLean is calling on not only the health centre, but also the province and the city to find a solution to what she calls a "unique facility" and "major institution" that is surrounded by single-family homes.
"You don't see teachers standing on the sidewalk smoking. I don't know where they go, but they're extremely discreet. It's almost like there's enough negative response about smoking around kids that people don't do it," she said.
She would like to know how this can be achieved at health centres.