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Volunteer's smoking habit gets in the way

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published September 26, 2006

Maureen Cloutier loved being a Relay for Life volunteer.

Over the past six years, the emergency room nurse lent her energy to raise awareness about cancer in her hometown, Spring Hill, and more recently in Brooksville.

Cloutier worked so hard at it, she rose through the ranks of volunteers to become a co-chairman.

Earlier this year, she went for leadership training and got to know other volunteers as they stepped outside the workshops - for a cigarette.

Cloutier looked forward to running the annual fundraising event in Brooksville. This summer, when Jean Harberts, the local American Cancer Society community representative, called to get together for lunch at Nellie's, Cloutier was excited.

She thought she and Harberts were going to discuss possible themes for the upcoming campaign and other organizational details.

This was going to be a big year for the Brooksville Relay for Life. They were going to bring in professional singers, have a car show.

"We were going to put the Brooksville Relay for Life on the map," Cloutier said.

Her big plans went up in smoke.

As a high profile Relay for Life campaign chairman, Cloutier was told, her smoking habit was unacceptable. It sent the wrong message. She could not be chairman.

Cloutier wasn't too happy about it. "For the past six years, I've sent the same kind of message. It didn't seem to bother anybody," she said. "They didn't have a problem with the money I raised. I was just stunned. I was taken aback."

You may be wondering, shouldn't she have seen this coming?

Smoking is one of the leading, preventable causes of cancer. How can you promote cancer awareness on one hand while you're holding a smoldering Kool in the other? Cloutier knows the consequences. She's been a nurse for 28 years.

This dispute says much about the addictive nature of cigarettes. Cloutier, 57, started smoking after her first divorce, stopped when she remarried and started smoking again after a second divorce. She smokes about a pack a day, mostly during her breaks at work.

But this also says much about who we are and what we do - imperfect people trying to improve an equally imperfect world. It's hard to argue against Harberts' logic, but it comes with a risk. How much say should organizations like the American Cancer Society have over the lives of their volunteers? Will some volunteers be turned off by what happened to Cloutier?

Harberts had a choice. Who better to give testimonials about the insidious habit than a pack-a-day smoker? Or, who worse to personify the organization mounting the fight?

This wasn't a discussion Harberts was eager to have. It took almost a week to get her on the phone, and she wasn't all that comfortable. But she emphasized the Relay for Life's goal - promoting cancer awareness. The campaign includes a big push to educate youth that smoking will kill you.

As a full-time American Cancer Society employee, Harberts doesn't smoke.

"It's a lifestyle choice," she said "I work for what I believe in."

She chose her words carefully. She didn't want to say anything negative about Cloutier. Sometimes when you demonize smoking, it sounds like you're attacking the smokers - or, if you prefer, victims.

Harberts said Cloutier didn't have to quit; she could have continued her volunteer efforts in another, less visible, capacity.

But Cloutier is moving on. She still plans to volunteer, but she will do it for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, her favorite charity when she was younger. They fight cancer, too.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 25, 2006, 22:35:31]