Colorado

Purpose:
To organize a state and community based partnership that would adopt and advance a vision of 100% Access and Zero Health Disparities in Adams, Delta, Pueblo and Routt Counties, Colorado.

• Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN) - State Primary Care Association and Colorado Medical Society
• Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (60 members)

What was done by Charles Wiltraut:

• The Campaign strategy in Colorado is to partner with the Coalition for the Medially Underserved. The Coalition adopted the Campaign at its March 1999 meeting when CCHN and I presented the Campaign strategy.
• Strategic planning was conducted with CCHN and the Coalition to identify four communities as pilot sites in the Campaign.
• During April 1999 interviews were conducted with over 65 members of the Coalition to develop criteria for community selection, and to catalog challenges and potential strategies for implementing the Campaign and Coalition vision in several pilot communities.
• Former studies in the state of Colorado were reviewed for findings as well as selection criteria. These findings were compiled for CCHN and the Coalition.
• Adams County, Delta County, Pueblo County, Routt County were selected by the Coalition for participation in a community discussion group process.
• A Briefing Packet containing secondary data at the local and state level relevant for examining access and disparities produced for each community.
• CCHN, Coalition staff and I worked together to recruit and organize leaders from the selected communities in May and June, 1999. Leaders in each community organized a series of community discussion groups. Charles Wiltraut, CCHN and Coalition representatives visited each of the four communities in August and September 1999. I facilitated the community meetings.
• Reports for each community were produced by Charles Wiltraut, CCHN and the Coalition.
• A strategy report for the Coalition, which details involvement by the Coalition in community level strategies will be used to leverage resources and facilitate involvement in these communities by members of the Coalition. Outcomes:

• Positioned the importance of maintaining the safety net and promoting insurance coverage strategies to improve access in the state.
• Four communities involved in 1999; these communities presented the current state of access to care in their environment at the annual Conference on the Medically Underserved in March 2000.
• Community members invited to participate in the Policy and Issues Forum to lobby state and federal representatives, organized by CCHN.
• Implementation of recommended strategies occurring in each community:
  1. New site for primary care in Adams County
  2. Discussion and improved collaboration among service providers in Delta County
  3. A Community Health Summit using results from the process in Pueblo County
  4. Expansion of a community health plan to include the underserved in Routt County

Contact Information:

Annette Kowal, Director
Elena Thomas, Community Development Director
Colorado Community Health Network
800 Grant, Suite 505
Denver, CO 80203
Tel: 303-861-5165 x 28
Fax: 303-861-5315

Chet Seward
Coordinator
Coalition for the Medically Underserved
P.O. Box 1775
Denver, CO 80217-0550
Tel: 303-779-5455, 303-930-0414
Fax: 303-771-8657