The American Lung Association of New Mexico (ALANM) is involved in a number of advocacy efforts to promote lung health issues through the state. Here are a few of the advocacy activities your American Lung Association supports.
New Mexico Concerned About Tobacco (NMCAT)
The New Mexico Concerned About Tobacco Coalition (NMCAT) works to create community norms that discourage smoking and spit tobacco use. Through responsible public policy changes, New Mexico can become a healthier state and statewide tobacco-related illnesses can be decreased. As a major partner with this organization, the American Lung Association of New Mexico supports public policy decisions that affect the State of New Mexico. The ALANM is a partner of NMCAT Smoke Free Campaign Team whose goal is to support and pass the 2007 Statewide Clean Indoor Air Legislation bill, or the “Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Act.” The ALANM will participate in most of the activities and meetings at the State Capital building in Santa Fe to support this bill’s passage through the legislature. In addition, the Lung Association is a partner with NMCAT Advisory Committee which focuses on other statewide efforts to go smoke-free in New Mexico.
Smoke Free UNM coalition
The goal of the Smoke Free UNM coalition is to promote a healthier campus by creating a smoke-free environment on the University of New Mexico (UNM) campus. Additionally, the coalition works to inform the community of the dangers of smoking and of secondhand smoke. The ALANM partnered with UNM to create this coalition and participates in different advocacy efforts, including a smoke free campus forum in October 2006; the event featured Dr. Upson, an ALANM Board member, as a speaker.
New Mexico Statewide Tribal Tobacco Coalition
In partnership with the Laguna Tribe and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the ALANM helped to build the first tribal tobacco coalition for the state of New Mexico. The mission for this coalition is to provide tobacco use and abuse resource information for the many tribes in New Mexico. The coalition also discusses the important differences between tradition uses of tobacco vs. the use of commercial/manufactured tobacco. The Lung Association provides the coalition with grant information from the Indian Affairs Department of New Mexico. To facilitate participation, the tribal tobacco coalition is not located in one geographical area in New Mexico; the meetings are held in the Northern, Central and Southern areas of New Mexico, so all tribes can attend a proportion of the meetings.
The Smoke Free Espanola Coalition
This coalition is a group of organizations and individuals who are working to make the Espanola community a healthier place. The goals of the coalition including building support for a policy change in Espanola to decrease smoking and provide protection from secondhand smoke prohibiting smoking in indoor public places and workplaces; the mission of the Smoke Free Espanola coalition is to promote positive change to create a healthy tobacco-free environment for the Espanola Valley and surrounding communities. The ALANM helped pass the Espanola smoke-free ordinance, in December 2006 and as of January 1, 2007 the city of Espanola is now smoke free.
For more information about other advocacy efforts the American Lung Association is involved in, go to our national website: www.lungusa.org.
Visit our national web site for more information:
www.lungusa.org
