FUN DAY WITH A VERY SERIOUS AIM AT WEXFORD CAMPUS

A FUN DAY, held to mark the launch of the Smoke Less Campus at the Wexford Campus of Carlow IT was enjoyed by all, with a variety of events taking place throughout the day.

The Wexford campus is following in the footsteps of its sister campus in Carlow who introduced a smoke free campus at their grounds last February. From now on, smoking (including e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes or any electronic nicotine delivery system that simulates smoking) will be restricted to two designated smoking shelters at the Summerhill Road and Hill Street locations.

The ban was undertaken following the survey of more than 1,300 students and staff in the campuses with 44% of the respondents in favour of a smokefree campus and a further 41% supporting the initiative. The Students Union has welcomed the move and encouraged people who might want to quit smoking to talk to the nurse or ring the national quit helpline on 1800 201 203.

There was great activity on the campus for the launch as there was a variety of games, competitions and opportunities to win some great prizes. Boots Pharmacy carried out blood pressure checks. A special machine, called a ‘smoke-a-lyser’ was also on site to measure the level of carbon monoxide in a person’s breath and deduce whether they were a heavy smoker or not.

The Student Union ran a table quiz, there was a ‘Toss the Habit’ competition which involved trying to throw a ring around a five foot cigarette, and there was a challenge to guess the number of alcohol units in certain drinks.

A spokesperson for the campus said that there was great participation and a great buzz in the building for the day.