URBANA — Provena Covenant Medical Center will become a smoke-free campus Nov. 17.

Covenant currently bans smoking in the main hospital building and within 15 feet of the entrance.

But next month, Covenant will join its sister campus in Danville, United Samaritans Medical Center, and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana in banning smoking on its entire medical campus.

Covenant officials say the ban will extend to all tobacco products and the entire campus, including parking lots, along with any building owned, leased or operated by the hospital.

Covenant spokeswoman Crystal Senesac said hospital employees seem to be accepting the change.

"We want to do what's best for our patients and for our employees," she said.

Employees who quit smoking or attend smoking cessation classes, plus take some other wellness steps, are eligible for a one-time $200 reduction on their health insurance premiums, Senesac said.

Covenant's campus will go smoke-free on the day of the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout, a day when smokers are encouraged to make a plan to quit or to plan in advance and try quitting for a day.

United Samaritans went smoke-free in November 2009, and the Carle medical campus and all Carle buildings banned smoking in 2004.

Secondhand smoke, the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke exhaled by smokers, contains hundreds of toxic chemicals, about 70 of which can cause cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention.

Second-hand smoke has been linked to numerous health problems and there isn't any safe exposure level to it, according to the CDC.