Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Public health professionals are often asked to communicate complex community needs, program impact, and next steps in ways that are clear, compelling, and useful for both community members and local decision-makers. However, many communication products rely heavily on data tables, long reports, or technical language that may not fully reflect community priorities or support timely action. This skill-building session responds to the need for practical, equity-centered tools that help public health professionals translate local data and community voice into concise, accessible, and actionable public health briefs.

This interactive workshop will guide participants through a reusable five-part framework for developing one-page public health briefs. The framework includes: identifying what needs to be communicated and to whom; selecting relevant local and state data; integrating community voices, quotes, themes, or lived experience findings; structuring the narrative for different audiences, including community members and local stakeholders; and using simple data visualization and layout strategies to create a brief that is easy to understand, share, print, QR-code, or use in meetings.

Participants will apply the framework through a guided practice exercise using a Local Health Agency topic, such as vaping, as an example. Presenters will walk through how the same public health topic can be framed differently depending on the audience. For community members, the brief may emphasize accessible language, shared priorities, community strengths, resources, and what comes next. For local stakeholders, the brief may highlight data trends, service gaps, community-identified needs, program impact, and action steps for planning or policy. Participants will then practice selecting key messages, identifying appropriate data points, incorporating community voice, and considering simple visual strategies that support the intended narrative.

This session supports best practices in public health communication, community engagement, health equity, and applied data translation. By pairing quantitative data with qualitative community voice, participants will practice moving beyond simply reporting numbers toward creating communication products that reflect both evidence and lived experience. The session also supports skill development by giving attendees hands-on experience with a practical template and process they can adapt for future topics, programs, assessments, reports, grant updates, coalition meetings, and community engagement efforts.

The session is relevant to local, state, tribal, and federal public health professionals, community health staff, evaluators, coalition partners, and others working to translate data into meaningful public health action. Aligned with the conference theme, Stronger Together, this workshop emphasizes that public health communication is stronger when local and state data are combined with community priorities, barriers, strengths, and lived experience. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies for creating public health briefs that inform, engage, elevate community voice, and support shared decision-making.

Background / Purpose: Public health depends on our ability to not only interpret complex science, but to inspire action through communication. Behavioral and social sciences provide the critical “how” for this mission. This session serves as a primer on risk communication science, designed to help professionals move beyond traditional messaging models and address community needs through evidence-based outreach.

Methods: This session showcases communication models that blend technical expertise with cultural humility. We use behavioral science to explore how risk perception —often a mix of actual hazard and public “outrage” — impacts community response. Participants will apply structured frameworks to maintain transparency, including the Hazard-Impact-Action (HIA) model for public health action directives and the Know/Don’t Know model for navigating evolving scientific information and uncertainty.

Results: These models ensure that health messages remain clear, consistent, and supportive. By translating complex data into actionable and accessible information, we empower individuals to make informed decisions. Focusing on the “so what” and “what now” increases the effectiveness of guidance while reducing the cognitive load on communities during high-stress situations.

Implications: Our technical expertise is most powerful when paired with an understanding of human behavior. Attendees will gain practical tools to support language justice and bridge the gap between science and community action, ensuring no community is left behind.

Interactive plan:

A 60-minute session is essential to bridge the gap between theory and application. We will use real-time polling to visualize "outrage factors" that drive community concern versus actual scientific hazard. We will also lead a collaborative “message surgery” where we take jargon-heavy technical excerpts and use the HIA framework to transform dense data into clear, empathetic, and actionable guidance. Integrating frequent “pulse-checks” ensures the content remains relevant to diverse public health roles. We are open to a 90-minute slot if the committee prefers a deeper dive.

Background: Medical assistants (MAs) and nurses are often among the first to discuss vaccination with families in primary care, yet little is known about how they communicate about HPV vaccination. Their interactions may shape parental perceptions, prime clinician conversations, and influence vaccine acceptance, but their communication practices have not been described. This study aimed to describe self-reported HPV vaccine communication practices, attitudes, and training needs among MAs and nurses working in primary care clinics.

Design/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of MAs, nurses, and other non-clinician staff (e.g., certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, and other non-licensed clinical support roles) at 22 primary care clinics in Kansas and Missouri. Eligible staff interacted with families before the clinician’s visit. The survey assessed the frequency, timing, and style of HPV vaccine discussions, responses to vaccine hesitancy, and perceived role in vaccine communication.

Results: Of 247 invited staff, 185 completed surveys (75% response rate) across all 22 clinics. Most (78%) reported using a presumptive communication style; however, only 24% described a fully presumptive initiation style. Only 7% reported using motivational interviewing techniques when parents express hesitancy, and 36% accepted initial refusal and deferred to the clinician. Registered nurses (RNs) were significantly less likely than MAs, LPNs, and CNAs to initiate vaccine discussions proactively (81% vs. 93%; p=0.01). Most respondents (87%) perceived clinicians as extremely or moderately receptive to their involvement, 75% viewed their own role as important, and 82% wanted additional vaccine communication training.

Conclusions: Non-clinician staff regularly discuss HPV vaccination with families but frequently use inconsistent and non-evidence-based approaches, with a substantial gap between self-reported technique use and described practice. These findings highlight the underrecognized role of this workforce in vaccine delivery and underscore the need for structured, role-specific training interventions.

Background:
Youth nicotine use remains a public health concern and is closely connected with mental health. Public health campaigns are often adult-led and rely on deficit-based, abstinence-focused messaging that may limit meaningful youth engagement and behavior change. In contrast, Skip the Hit, a youth-led, co-designed media campaign, applied the Social Justice Youth Development framework by partnering with young people as public health leaders. This approach centers youth voice and lived experience to shape messaging that more authentically reaches youth, supports incremental behavior change, and promotes mental health.

Methods:
Fourteen young people participated in a three-phase leadership and media development initiative over 30 weeks in partnership with Jefferson County Public Health. Phase One built knowledge of nicotine use, mental health, media literacy, and critical analysis of industry influences and systemic factors. Phase Two involved collaboration with a creative agency to co-design campaign branding and messaging. Phase Three centered on youth-led production of social media content and participatory decision-making about campaign budget and implementation. Throughout, youth were compensated, and adults engaged in ongoing coaching and reflective practice.

Results:
This project produced a media campaign made by and for young people, offering supportive, honest, and non-judgmental messaging to promote healthy decision-making. It also influenced shifts in adult attitudes and beliefs about youth, including the adoption of equitable, anti-adultist practices. Evaluations to date indicate increased levels of trust, balance of power, psychological empowerment, and mutual learning between youth and adults.

Implications:
Social justice–driven, youth co-designed approaches strengthen public health education while building leadership capacity.

One hour allows for presenting on planning/facilitation of meetings with youth, campaign co-creation/implementation, analytics, and lessons learned. Attendees will discuss/compare current youth engagement approaches to a Social Justice Youth Development model and will identify organizational constraints to power-sharing and actionable changes to support equitable youth engagement.

How local government engages with young people is crucial in shaping the future development of a community. Adult-centrism refers to the bias that our society places on the views of adults in comparison to that of young people. Beyond the physicality of educational spaces, youth are often viewed as only passive recipients of services within these spaces, rather than as active participants who can provide valuable contributions. As a result, this leaves few to no opportunities for youth to represent their own interests, while also distinguishing adult concerns from youth, creating a hierarchy between the two rather than a collective concern.

The Nicotine Awareness and Tobacco Prevention team at the Larimer County Department of Health and Environment centers youth as partners by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to raise awareness about the harms of nicotine and tobacco use. Through youth programming and broader community feedback, as well as a recognized gap in accessible educational platforms for community partners, staff developed an adaptable curriculum called Breathe Easy, a pilot initiative grounded in continuous improvement and community feedback. The curriculum includes interactive, age-specific modules for elementary, middle, and high school students, covering nicotine products, health and environmental impacts, industry marketing tactics, refusal skills, and cessation resources. It is designed as both a train-the-trainer model and a self-guided resource, allowing educators, community members, and youth to facilitate learning within their own communities. Youth Engagement Specialists (YESs), embedded as paid staff, lead youth coalitions and play a central role in co-developing, refining, and delivering the curriculum. In practice, youth coalition members have implemented Breathe Easy in their local communities, demonstrating increased civic leadership and advocacy for healthier environments. By integrating youth voice into program design and delivery, local public health efforts can foster more responsive, sustainable, and community-driven approaches to prevention.

Improving postpartum care utilization among Medicaid members remains a persistent public health challenge. While roughly 70% of Coloradans access care within a year of delivery, only 66% of Medicaid-covered individuals do, and rates have dropped in recent years. To address gaps in postpartum visit completion and connect members to supportive services, Colorado Access and Family Connects partnered in Arapahoe County and Denver County to leverage Colorado Access member incentives to encourage participation in nurse-led postpartum home visits and completion of 6-week postpartum care. This project examines whether incentives, combined with trusted community-based care, increase engagement in home visitation and timely postpartum care.

Beginning in March 2026, Colorado Access collaborated with Family Connects programs housed at Denver Health and Arapahoe County Public Health, both of which provide evidence-based nurse home visits 3–12 weeks after birth. Eligible members received gift card incentives for completing a home visit and for attending their 6-week postpartum visit. The evaluation will compare postpartum visit completion rates between participants and non-participants. Implementation processes, including workflows across varying electronic health record systems and incentive distribution models, will be assessed to identify operational strengths and challenges.

Preliminary findings indicate variability in implementation across sites due to differences in systems and workflows. Early data suggest increased interest in postpartum care engagement among participants receiving incentives. More outcome analysis will be available at the time of presentation.

This partnership highlights the importance of collaboration across healthcare and public health systems to improve maternal health outcomes. While multi-organizational partnerships introduce complexity, strong communication, adaptability, and shared goals are critical to success. This work demonstrates that we are stronger together when leveraging community partnerships to enhance care access and support for postpartum individuals.