Making and Keeping El Paso Smoke Free

A Smoke Free Paso Del Norte was created by the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, one of the largest private foundations on the U.S.- Mexico border, and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has served as the Backbone Organization (BBO) for the last 10 years. The goal of the initiative, broadly, has been to eliminate smoking in the Paso del Norte region. Its method has been to bring together stakeholders from every sector in the region, and to empower them in different ways to move toward the shared goal.

“We’re helping to develop and maintain a comprehensive and coordinated approach to tobacco control which includes different components to prevent the initiation of smoking among young people, promoting quitting among adults and young people, and eliminating exposure to second hand smoke,” says Nora Hernandez, who joined A Smoke Free Paso Del Norte as program manager 10 years ago.

The goal of the initiative, broadly, has been to eliminate smoking in the Paso del Norte region. Its method has been to bring together stakeholders from every sector in the region, and to empower them in different ways to move toward the shared goal.

Regional organizations are awarded grants to work towards this, especially in the area of providing data and empirical methods to guide action and engaging people and organizations to improve health. As the BBO of the initiative, UTEP provides ongoing technical assistance to community organizations and non-funded partners on implementing and using tobacco control methods.

In 2014, working with A Smoke Free Paso Del Norte, the El Paso city council approved changes to update its policy. Now smoking is banned in city-owned properties, including parks, with a 20-foot no-smoking zone around all public entrances, and the definition of “smoking” has been expanded to include electronic cigarettes. The updated policy also establishes air-handling requirements for all smoke shops and hookah lounges.

“We wanted to make sure that we were updating our ordinances and protecting those that are more vulnerable from secondhand smoke or the aerosol that’s emitted from electronic cigarettes,” explains Hernandez.

Hernandez lists the development of the Paso Del Norte Tobacco Control Network, a very active bi-national, tri-state network, comprising Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua, Mexico, as one of the Initiative’s achievements. Aimed to build capacity among the community, it has different members, representing different organizations and sectors like public health, education, and law enforcement that get together on a monthly basis to discuss public health issues, with a concentration on tobacco control.

Research and evaluation have also been incorporated into A Smoke Free Paso Del Norte. A 2011 publication in the American Journal of Public Health assessing the impact of this tobacco control initiative over 10 years showed a decrease in tobacco users in El Paso, TX. Empirical research specifically looking at attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and support towards clean air ordinances and policies in the community and the UTEP campus have been conducted.

“These issues don't stop at the borders.”

More recently, there has been a greater focus on working towards eliminating tobacco-related disparities among those with mental health issues, pregnant women, military, and LGBTQ communities—groups, says Hernandez, that are at particular risk. Very few media campaigns are targeted towards such populations, and that lack inspired the team to create a comprehensive plan in order to execute a well-developed social media campaign targeting these populations. They also work with municipalities around El Paso, not protected by a Clean Air ordinance, to assess resident support towards such policies.

A deep understanding of the population they seek to serve helps in creating effective campaigns.

“When we started working on the tobacco-free campus efforts and towards marketing the policy of tobacco free campuses,” Hernandez explains, “we focused on the value of respect because it’s a value that resonates with the predominantly Hispanic population here.”

Hernandez attributes much of the program’s success to effective coordination between the different components of the projects to avoid duplication of services and the ability to have honest discussions about lessons learned and best practices. “We have been working collaboratively with some of our national counterparts in Mexico,” says Hernandez. “These issues don't stop at the borders.”