We will outline these below, along with our expectations for compliance with resident rights. If this occurs, the person in charge may not designate the entire facility as a smoking area. Wis. Stats., requires either the person in charge or his or her agent to post signs identifying designated smoking areas and to arrange seating to accommodate nonsmokers. Facility policy allows smoking in designated areas but a local unit of government passes an ordinance or resolution prohibiting smoking. When a change in law or in facility policies governing resident conduct occur, federal and state nursing home regulations require the nursing home to give oral and written notice of the change to the resident or legal representative, in a language the resident or legal representative understands.
Residents retain the right to smoke outside the building.
We will address our expectations for smoking outside the building later in this memo. Nursing home changes its policy and becomes a non- smoking facility. If a nursing home changes its past policy by implementing a policy that prohibits smoking in the building, this must be clearly designated in the facility's admission agreement. Residents who are admitted on or after the effective date of the policy may not smoke in the facility. Residents who were admitted at a time when smoking in the facility was allowed must continue to be allowed to smoke, either in the facility or in an easily-accessed adjacent area that is protected from the weather.