News
CEO retires from the Paso del Norte Health Foundation
July 23, 2015
Myrna Deckert, CEO of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation for the past eight years, announced her retirement Friday. The Health Foundation’s Board of Directors will begin a search for a replacement and Deckert will continue in her role until a successor is named.
Long a pillar in the El Paso community and in non-profits across Texas and the nation, Deckert was named CEO of the Health Foundation in 2007. Under her leadership the Health Foundation has grown the number of program initiatives it supports to include a sharp focus on healthy eating and active living, mental and emotional…
Archive Initiative - Ageless Health
June 29, 2015
Ageless Health - 2000-2007 Caring for the health of the 60 and over population
The value of a community and the structure of family life are in transformation due to the demographic shift in the increasing number of older people in our society. People over the age of 65 have more than doubled, and during the next 30 years, that number will double again.
Understanding the concerns of keeping the aging community healthy, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation created the Ageless Health Initiative. The initiative was designed to develop or expand volunteer-based projects to support the…
REALIZE Cohort for 2015-16 is announced
June 29, 2015
Dramatic change is taking shape in the fields of population health and medicine. This fast and progressive evolution in our community requires capable leadership. In response, the Paso del Norte Health Foundation created REALIZE, an innovative leadership development experience that helps ensure a network of leaders, who are committed to improving health for the benefit of future generations.
The Paso del Norte Health Foundation is pleased to announce the REALIZE Cohort for 2015-16. These individuals will begin an intense nine-month experience starting in July, which is custom designed to…
Shift+ takes deliberate, thoughtful approach to Binge Drinking
June 16, 2015
Michael Sparks is an alcohol policy specialist who works with communities across the country to address alcohol-related problems using evidence-based strategies.
When the Paso del Norte Health Foundation called on him in 2014 to help with its Shift+ initiative, Sparks’ initial impression was highly positive because of what he saw as the Foundation’s deliberate and thoughtful approach to the problem of binge drinking.
The Foundation’s Shift+ initiative is a new framework to reduce binge drinking in the region. The YMCA serves as the organizing agency in the U.S. FECHAC serves as the…
2014 Annual Reports
June 10, 2015
2014 Annual Reports E-mail The Paso del Norte Health Foundation’s annual report celebrates the Foundation’s 20th anniversary and how the Foundation has evolved to improve the health of the region. In addition, a few of the first initiatives are highlighted and the movement towards a region driven by the power of healthy living.
The Paso del Norte Foundation’s annual report shares the partnership with more than 10 nonprofit organizations through the Challenge Fund raising over $925,000 in new and increased gifts from more than 2,000 donors, providing matching funds and…
Archive Initiative - Center for Border Health Research
June 5, 2015
Sound research is the basis upon which health prevention and education programs are designed.
The Center for Border Health Research (CBHR) was developed to bring together the major regional research institutes to initiate health research for the Paso del Norte region. This was achieved through programs designed to fund regional health research, increase the competitiveness of regional researchers in grant seeking, provide regional researchers with training and other tools that would increase their capacity to conduct research, and collect surveillance data in the region.
The overall…
Foundations announce New Board Chair and Members
June 3, 2015
The Paso del Norte Health Foundation is pleased to announce the election of Carolyn Mora, as the new 2015-16 Board Chair. Ms. Mora has served on the board since 2010 and is a Certified Public Accountant, Carolyn L. Mora Financial Services.
Jose Prieto, M.D. was appointed as Vice-Chair and Chair-Elect. He has served on the board since 2011 and is in private practice, Partners in Pediatrics.
The Foundation also elected four new members to the Board of Directors – Guadalupe “Pita” de la Vega, Vice-President of Almacenes Distribuidores de la Frontera, Bruce Esterline, Senior Vice…
Foundation awards 2015 grants for a Smoke Free Community
June 2, 2015
The Paso del Norte Health Foundation recently awarded five grants totaling more than $3.2 million under the Tobacco and Alcohol Control Priority Area – A Smoke Free Paso del Norte initiative.
The purpose of A Smoke Free Paso del Norte initiative is to promote health and prevent disease in the Paso del Norte region by reducing smoking. Top priorities include programs aimed at children and youth, making cessation programs widely available, and promoting smoke-free environments. A Smoke Free Paso del Norte also strives to reduce the smoking rate among intermittent smokers, pregnant women,…
El Paso Behavioral Health Consortium
May 27, 2015
Vision and Leadership The El Paso Behavioral Health Consortium (Consortium) convened to examine the El Paso community behavioral health system in preparation for future service needs and funding trends.
The Consortium envisions an accessible, person-centered behavioral health system of care in the El Paso region. Its actions are informed by community leaders and available data including an El Paso County behavioral health system assessment conducted in 2014.
Knowing that existing groups have projects underway in various sectors of the behavioral health system, the Consortium…
REALIZE: A Transformational Leadership Program
May 15, 2015
When Paso del Norte Health Foundation CEO Myrna Deckert saw the need to strengthen the bench of emerging leaders in the region, she tapped Dr. Michael Kelly for the job.
This was six years ago, and what Dr. Kelly developed was a transformational leadership program called REALIZE. The next cohort will be selected in June; the class will stay together for 15 months and go through a series of executive coaching sessions, off-site visits to places like the Sacramento Mountains, and complete a course of reading from experts in the leadership field.
Dr. Kelly proudly proclaims that REALIZE…
