Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Public health professionals are increasingly called to address complex inequities rooted in systemic racism, trauma, and historical mistrust. Yet many professionals have not been given the tools to navigate conflict, build authentic trust across difference, or recognize how implicit bias and emotional responses impact communication with strategically undervalued populations. This skill-building session is designed to strengthen participants’ ability to practice equity-centered, trauma-informed, and empathetic public health engagement.

This interactive training will help public health professionals better communicate with and listen to QBIPOC communities while building empathy for the structural injustices that shape health outcomes and lived experiences. Participants will examine how conflict avoidance, defensiveness, implicit bias, and countertransference can interfere with effective communication, relationship-building, and equitable public health practice. The session will also explore how white supremacy shows up in workplace dynamics, systems, and patient care, particularly through urgency, perfectionism, and avoidance of discomfort.

Participants will develop practical emotional intelligence and communication skills that support stronger public health relationships, more responsive community engagement, and increased capacity to navigate difficult conversations with compassion and accountability. Through equity education, discussion, and real-world application, attendees will leave with tangible tools to strengthen their anti-racist public health practice and deepen trust with the communities they serve.

This session aligns with best practices in public health by centering cultural humility, trauma-informed engagement, equity-informed communication, and community-centered approaches to care. The training supports workforce development by equipping professionals with interpersonal and reflective skills necessary for effective collaboration, cross-sector partnership, and equitable patient care in increasingly diverse communities.

Instructional methods will include a lecture-style presentation with slides, facilitated discussion, reflective exercises, scenario-based application, and opportunities for peer learning and dialogue. Skill development will be measured through participant self-reflection, interactive discussion, applied practice exercises.

This session directly supports the conference theme, Stronger Together, by helping public health professionals build the empathy, communication skills, and relational capacity necessary to foster resilient communities, collaborative partnerships, and a more equitable public health future.

Traditional mental health research has often limited the involvement of underrepresented groups, including youth, in research development, limiting the applicability of findings and reinforcing inequitable power dynamics. Although evidence demonstrates that engaging youth in all phases of the research process improves relevance, youth participation remains limited to passive roles rather than active partners. Many initiatives sparingly involve youth, rather than full collaboration in all stages of the research process.

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), a specific type of Community-Based Participatory Research focused on youth engagement, seeks to address these inequities. Project YAM (Youth-engaged Approaches to Mental Health) is a qualitative research study focused on using YPAR approaches to explore youth engagement frameworks for mental health settings. We took a unique youth-adult collaborative approach to qualitative YPAR by completely integrating youth researchers as team members in all project phases.

In this skill-building session, we will examine contextual barriers and facilitators to youth engagement in public health settings with a focus on integrating youth into qualitative research and evaluation teams. Attendees will gain experience in utilizing a bidirectional youth-adult partnership approach to co-create strategies for effective youth engagement. Our youth facilitators will support attendees in tailoring YPAR methodology to integrate youth in the projects and settings relevant to attendees.

Our study was co-developed with a youth co-PI, who formulated the research question and co-led the successful submission of a grant proposal. We recruited and hired a team of five youth researchers, and completed youth-focused research ethics and qualitative methods training. Youth-adult teams completed interviews, with youth facilitating and taking field notes. Data analysis utilized a co-led qualitative rapid matrix approach. By embedding youth voices, we enhanced and made significant modifications to our qualitative research procedures leading to more precise, youth-tailored results that have a better chance at improving youth engagement efforts. Consequently, we developed a “roadmap” for youth participation in all phases of the qualitative research process.

Throughout the presentation attendees will engage in small group discussion guided by reflective questions and interactive case studies intended to support application of skills learned in the session to real world situations. Each activity builds on presented knowledge and skills culminating in an actionable roadmap that can be implemented as a practical guide for incorporating YPAR in their organization. This roadmap outlines key stages, including detours highlighting common challenges along with strategies for navigating them and fast lanes, like existing partners/tools that can accelerate the process. Application questions will prompt attendees to reflect on how and why they want to engage in YPAR, helping them clarify purpose, readiness, and next steps for their team

By centering youth engagement and applying YPAR approaches, we were able to innovate a process for integrating youth into qualitative public health research. The roadmap presented and applied in this workshop provides infrastructure to embed and leverage youth’s lived experiences and insights to produce meaningful participation. Applying this roadmap and considering novel forms of youth engagement has the potential to co-create equitable and tailored solutions for youth.

Rural public health systems across Colorado continue to navigate complex workforce challenges related to recruitment, retention, infrastructure, training capacity, and evolving community health needs. At the same time, rural communities, public health agencies, academic institutions, and community partners are developing innovative and relationship-centered approaches to strengthen workforce pathways and support sustainable public health capacity.

This showcase session will provide an overview of emerging insights and practice-informed lessons related to rural public health workforce development in Colorado from the perspective of academic and community partnership efforts. Drawing from ongoing collaborations involving workforce development initiatives, rural public health partnerships, student training programs, academic health department relationships, and statewide conversations with rural practitioners and leaders, presenters will highlight themes that are shaping current workforce needs and opportunities across Colorado’s rural public health landscape.

The session will explore topics such as workforce recruitment and retention, student development, training and mentorship needs, cross-sector collaboration, infrastructure challenges, rural practice-based learning opportunities, and the importance of relationship-building in sustaining rural public health systems. Presenters will also discuss how rural public health partners are navigating changing expectations, limited resources, and emerging opportunities for innovation and collaboration.

Rather than presenting a single program model or finalized research project, this session is intended to foster dialogue and shared learning around the evolving realities of rural workforce development in Colorado. Attendees will gain exposure to current partnership approaches, emerging strategies, and practical considerations for strengthening rural public health capacity through collaborative and equity-focused efforts.

This session aligns with the conference theme of “Stronger Together” by emphasizing the importance of partnerships, shared learning, and collective investment in the future of Colorado’s rural public health workforce.

Background/Purpose: Language Justice is the principle that all people have the right to communicate, understand, and be understood in their preferred language and that all languages should be valued equally. Within public health and environmental settings, effective language services are essential to equitable community engagement and meaningful participation in decision-making processes. At the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, particularly within the Office of Environmental Justice, staff have identified a growing need for culturally competent translation and interpretation practices that build trust and improve accessibility while navigating operational and funding constraints.

Methods: This session will present practices and lessons learned from implementing language access strategies within public health and environmental justice work. Presenters will discuss approaches used to improve translation consistency and quality, including shared glossaries, coordination with external vendors, and review processes that prioritize cultural and contextual appropriateness. The session will also examine interpretation practices such as advanced interpreter preparation, sharing technical materials before meetings, and supporting interpreters with subject matter context. Presenters will additionally discuss emerging technologies, including AI-assisted translation tools, and their appropriate role within language justice efforts.

Results: These practices have improved consistency across multilingual communications, strengthened interpreter preparedness, and supported more meaningful community participation in public health and environmental discussions. Presenters have also identified persistent implementation barriers, including limited funding, staffing capacity, and organizational misconceptions that language access can be fully replaced by automated tools.

Implications: Participants will leave with practical strategies for strengthening language services within their own organizations while critically assessing the opportunities and limitations of AI and other technologies in language access work. The additional 30 minutes requested for this session will allow for facilitated audience discussion, small-group reflection activities, and peer-to-peer sharing on implementation challenges and best practices in support of the conference theme, “Stronger Together.”

Colorado’s rural communities often face unique health care challenges, including provider shortages, longer travel distances for care, and limited access to timely, locally relevant data to support community health assessment and planning. Yet county-level health care data are frequently fragmented across multiple systems, making them difficult to access and interpret. To address this gap, the Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC) developed the Colorado County Profiles, a publicly available resource that draws on data from the Colorado All Payer Claims Database (CO APCD) to compile health care enrollment, access, utilization, and cost indicators for all 64 Colorado counties.

This session will present the development, structure, and early implementation of the Colorado County Profiles, including the integration of ongoing health care enrollment data with population, spending, and utilization measures. Particular emphasis will be placed on how county-level Medicaid and commercial enrollment data can help rural communities monitor coverage trends, identify emerging needs, and inform local planning efforts.

Presenters will highlight rural and regional variation in health care costs, utilization, and enrollment, demonstrating how the profiles translate complex data into concise, community-focused reports. The session will also explore how longitudinal enrollment tracking can help counties assess the effects of federal and state policy changes, including expected shifts in Medicaid and commercial coverage related to HR 1 and ongoing affordability challenges.

Early engagement demonstrates growing interest among local public health agencies and community organizations seeking practical tools to support Community Health Assessments and planning activities. Rural counties, which often have limited capacity for independent data analysis, may benefit in particular from accessible, regularly updated county-level information.

Attendees will leave with practical strategies for using county-level enrollment and population data to support rural health assessment, collaborative planning, and data-informed public health action.

Background / Purpose:
Access to preventative care and outbreak response remains a persistent challenge for underinsured, uninsured, newcomer, and geographically isolated populations across Colorado. Childhood immunization gaps—particularly MMR rates among kindergartners remaining below 90%—highlight the need for innovative, scalable delivery models. This project asks: how can mobile clinic infrastructure improve equitable vaccine access and strengthen public health resilience? We hypothesize that deploying independent, technology-enabled mobile clinics can expand reach, improve vaccination rates, and enhance outbreak responsiveness while fostering cross-sector collaboration—aligning with the conference theme, Stronger Together.

Methods:
We implemented mobile vaccination vans as fully independent clinic sites equipped with advanced cold-chain technology and data systems. Clinics were deployed in both urban and rural counties, targeting underserved populations. Operational improvements included streamlined registration systems, diversified staffing, and culturally responsive care practices. Data were collected on clinic frequency, geographic reach, patient demographics, and vaccines administered from September 2023 to January 2026.

Results:
The program delivered 40,664 vaccines to 15,427 individuals across 801 clinics in 44 of 64 counties. Over 65% of recipients were underinsured or uninsured. Transitioning to independent mobile units increased clinic frequency and capacity, particularly in rural areas, while improving workflow efficiency and access for diverse populations.

Implications:

Mobile public health clinics are a scalable, adaptable solution for improving healthcare access, addressing immunization gaps, and strengthening outbreak response. Key takeaways include the importance of operational flexibility, technology integration, and culturally responsive care to reduce barriers and advance health equity.