In the health conscious society we live in today, smoking is targeted as a major health problem.

In La Crosse, the push is being made to make the city smoke free. But, some companies are snuffing out smoking, voluntarily.

"We're part of the La Crosse Area Tobacco Free Alliance, which includes Gundersen Lutheran, the three universities and a couple other organizations in town," says Amanda Roush of Franciscan Skemp

"We feel it's best for our employees and our patients and for our visitors. Essentially we're not going to allow smoking anywhere on the Gundersen Lutheran campus," says Jim Engh of Gundersen Lutheran

While these campuses are smoke free, there is one place people can smoke. That's in the parking lot, in their car.

Before now, you could smoke anywhere outside.
But this afternoon, Franciscan Skemp got serious. It removed three popular smoking areas.

"To support the tobacco free campus we needed to remove the areas which people were most commonly smoking, which would be the Butt Huts," says Roush.

Those huts will now be used as shelters for kids who ride the bus to school. And Gundersen Lutheran has done the same.

"We've already removed one of our smoking areas that was south of the hospital. That's gone. That was really the only authorized smoking area," says Engh.

Western Technical College also joined the medical centers and other businesses in going smoke free in 2007.

And while the hospitals insist they're not trying to tell people where and when they can smoke, they’re hoping more people will decide to kick the habit.

"I think the more organizations that support a tobacco free environment the stronger our argument is for a city-wide ordinance," says Roush.