Yeah. So my background is in public health.
That's where I originated.
And then I went into healthcare.
And philanthropy.
And I came back to local public health.
What do you see are the largest
issues right now when it comes to
public health facing Adams County?
So we conducted a community
health assessment.
tri-county Health Department
conducted a community health
assessment for Adams County last year.
And in that what we are seeing and hearing.
Is that food insecurity?
Housing instability.
Are two of the most significant
factors access to healthcare?
And mental and behavioral health.
Those are what we saw in the data and
then through community conversations
heard from the community members.
Do you the. The pandemic also
pointed out a lot about access to,
for example, the COVID-19 vaccine.
We worked and did stories
with several nonprofits,
grassroots organizations,
really boots on the ground following them,
going to local businesses,
handing out like COVID tests and things
like that because these communities,
largely Spanish speaking,
did not feel like they had the
access or the information.
Do you see those issues when
you when you came here?
Absolutely. And what I will say is the
pandemic exacerbated what was already here.
Right before the pandemic.
Public health did a phenomenal job reaching
people with evidence based practices,
but as the pandemic elevated.
We were missing this,
the connections and leaning on
community organizations to reach people.
And the pandemic reminded everyone in
public health that that is how it's done.
Adams County is quickly becoming
one of the largest Spanish,
Spanish speaking county
populations and diverse counties
in the Denver Metro in general.
That's according to the state demographer.
Where does that come into play? How?
How are they worked into your plans?
Our plan is to work with
community the whole entire way,
so I mentioned the Community
health assessment.
We are listening to communities.
About what they're experiencing.
And then how?
What we know to be best practices.
Can be integrated into their
communities with community members.
So we are working very
specifically with organizations,
grassroots organizations in the community.
Led by Hispanic members of the community
and residents in the community to design
programs that are meaningful for them.
What I will say is everything is on the
table to make sure that we have done a
thorough job to hear what needs to be done.
And you said some and.
When when we mentioned what needs to be done,
we need to be considering how do we
get information to people who need it?
How do we listen to the voices
who have traditionally?
And currently oftentimes
not at the table dinner,
what are we listening to as far as the
the plans that we put into place for
our Community health implementation
plan and it's also what are those
changes that we need to make as the systems.
That are serving communities,
what do we need to change
within ourselves to do better?
And is that door knocking?
Yes, sometimes it may be us.
Sometimes it may be one of the
trusted organizations because.
There are community leaders out
there who know community best and
we're going to listen to them and
understand how to reach community
the best so that we really truly do
understand how we can design together.
How do you
think the wide escape of
the county area itself?
Plays a role, then,
in how big your team needs to be.
How much you foresee?
The task at hand really is for your team.
Do you think that there's
a mountain in front of you
basically is what I'm asking.
I do not think that there is
a mountain in front of us.
If we leverage the organizations
and the Community who are trusted
if we were to go to this on our own.
It would be. Overwhelming at first.
However, what we know is in every
community there are trusted organizations,
and that's where we start.
We leverage the strengths of communities.
So I love the diversity of Adams County,
as you mentioned.
We have over 50% people of color.
And we have a rural community
that experiences disparities,
disparities with respect to access as well,
very different reasons for
that access challenge, right.
And so we will have to be learning
from all of these community members,
going to the trusted sources,
learning from them,
and then we're going to have to
design accordingly. So one strategy.
Such as I'll take food security.
Would have very different solutions in
rural Adams County compared to in Thornton.
And we need to recognize that.
And so we'll take the same overall approach
and tailor it for each of those communities.
And we'll start with what we're
able to do in public health also,
is to use data and mapping to understand
where those greatest disparities are.
And we can start there and we learn
there and then we grow and expand.
And that's where policy also comes
in because once we've learned.
Then we look at what are those systems.
That need to change so that we can
make this expand. Faster and equitably.