Editor’s note: The following article contains language that may be inappropriate for some readers. It involves comments made by UMC CEO & President Jacob Cintron and Nico Tejeda, CEO of Hospital of Providence and forwarded to Cindy Stout, CEO of El Paso Children’s Hospital via a text message.
In reviewing pending open records requests we noted a text message exchanged between University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) CEO & President Jacob Cintron and Nicholas Tejeda, CEO of the Hospitals of Providence. In the text message on July 12, 2020, Jacob Cintron refers to the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce mascot in sexual innuendo terms. Cintron was corresponding with Tejeda. The sexually-laden reference to the chamber’s mascot was forwarded to Cindy Stout, CEO of El Paso Children’s Hospital.
In the text message, Cintron wrote, “That’s you on the left. You know what it looks like”.
Text message
Tejeda responded, “Size to scale”.
Cintron followed up with, “With a little hat on top?”
Cintron continued, “No glove…no love.” (corrected on November 4, 2021 at 05:30E)
In an email response to our request for comment, Jacob Cintron stated that “in a brief exchange with another hospital CEO that was forwarded to Cindy Stout, the comment I made regarding the mascot at the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was insensitive and inappropriate.” Cintron, added, “I have reached out to Cindy Stout at El Paso Children’s Hospital and Cindy Ramos-Davidson at the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and have apologized.” [2]
Cindy Ramos-Davison, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in a telephone interview today told El Paso Politics that she received an apology for the inappropriate comments from Cintron and Tejeda this morning. Ramos-Davidson added that “in today’s environment,” everyone “should be cognizant of the language they use.” [1]
El Paso Politics sent requests for comment from UMC, Jacob Cintron, and El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board members, Monica Moreno, president of the board and David Candelaria, board member and KTSM TV vice president and general manager early this morning. Ramos-Davidson received the apologies from Cintron and Tejeda shortly after we sent our requests for comments to UMC.
As of press time, El Paso Politics has not received a response to our requests for comments from UMC board members, Veronica Carbajal and Anna Perez. We also did not receive a response to our request from EPHCC board members Monica Moreno and David Candelaria. We will update our article should we receive a comment from them.
Footnotes:
- Cindy Ramos-Davidson, CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, telephone interview with author on November 3, 2021, at 12:09 Eastern time.
- Email from Ryan Mielke, Director of Public Affairs, University Medical Center of El Paso with comments from CEO, Jacob Cintron.