The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) Tobacco Education Program and the Brenden Theatre in Modesto are teaming up to create a unique policy that is the first of its kind in California. The first “smoke-free theater entrance policy” will be implemented on Saturday, July 27 at the opening of the newest Austin Powers movie Goldmember.

A special kick-off event on July 27 between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Brenden Theater in Modesto will promote the new policy. Spanish and English speaking county tobacco education staff will be on hand with educational information and ticket and prize giveaways courtesy of Jamba Juice, Slices and Starbucks. PC the remote control talking car will be moving through the crowd giving tobacco education messages. Radio station B93.1 will have a live remote broadcast on site from 5-7 pm. HSA is giving away over 300 theater tickets to the opening of Goldmember as a means of promoting the new policy.

Media – interviews available on-scene in English and Spanish. Visuals include 3-foot high, remote control talking car interacting with children and adults, staff interactions, dunking booth, posted signs of the policy and prize giveaways.

According to county Project Director Mark Loeser, “Some theater goers have to walk through a cloud of smoke to purchase theater tickets. This policy will help to reduce the risk of their exposure to secondhand smoke at the Modesto Brenden Theater entrances.”

County Tobacco Education Staff and Brenden Theater Director of Public Relations Jerry Olivarez collaborated to develop smoke-free theater policy. According to Olivarez, “The tobacco staff approached us and asked us to consider adopting this policy. It didn’t take

long for us to realize this was the right thing to do to help respect the health of the people coming to the theatre.”

Tobacco Education Staff collaborated with Breath, the Technical Assistance Legal Center, and the Tobacco Education Clearinghouse of California on drafting the policy.

According to youth tobacco advocate Monica Parker, “ I have asthma and I have to hold my breath when I go to the theater where people smoke by the entrance.” In a survey conducted by the California Department of Health Services April 2001, 59.3 percent of Californians polled strongly agreed to designating building entrances smoke-free.

Loeser continued, “this is the first policy of its kind in the State of California. The goal of the policy is to reduce the public health risk to the exposure of secondhand smoke at theater entrances. This is a progressive policy that responds to the public health threat of exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). We’re pleased to see the theater is taking the lead in the community like the Stanislaus County Fair board of directors who two years ago designated the seated areas of the arena and grandstands at the fairgrounds outdoors smoke-free.”

As a result of this policy effort, the downtown Modesto restaurant Slices has taken steps to ban smoking in their outdoor patio seating area.

The Stanislaus County Health Services Agency (HSA) is an outpatient medical system with 10 medical offices located throughout Stanislaus County. The HSA operates the Public Health Department, an Urgent Care Center and multiple programs serving over 500,000 patients and clients each year in Stanislaus County. The HSA also is in local partnerships for the MOMobile project and the Stanislaus Family Practice Residency Program. The HSA has extensive community health information available at its web site www.hsahealth.org