Access to care is an important component of One Health efforts to provide care to people and pets. One Health Mobile Outreach, currently being piloted in Colorado, is a novel and innovative enterprise that takes interprofessional teams, primarily volunteer, to underserved areas of Colorado to provide free healthcare services in the form of a Community Health Fair. Typically the communities served are rural and relatively small. Teams include veterinary, medical, dental (human), social work, addiction counseling and other associated assistance, and the Health Fairs occur as one day events on weekends. Professional students, with preceptors, are an important component of the venture. Volunteer teams typically travel to one community each day within several hours drive of each other. One of the unique features of COHMO (Colorado One Health Mobile Outreach) is that the veterinary team is the umbrella organization, providing equipment and supplies for other providers and event coordination. Also, veterinarians and their team are effective at quickly establishing trust with pet owners and can serve as a bridge of trust to other healthcare practitioners, where there is often resistance on the part of individuals who may have had a negative experience previously, are wary of figures of authority or seek to avoid any discomfort or bad outcomes that may be involved.
Collaborative community healthcare is a novel model of providing preventive healthcare services to those in communities that are economically challenged, using the principle of Bring the Medicine to the People. It involves a One Health approach that integrates care for people and pets taking into account local environmental factors. There is a strong emphasis on dental care, the most neglected aspect of health care in underserved communities.
The presentation will be highly graphical and detail visits to multiple Colorado communities in the past several years.
Background/Purpose: The Colorado State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup (SEOW) is a network of state agencies and data experts that collaborate to examine the patterns, context, and impacts of substance use to inform prevention, treatment, and recovery efforts across Colorado. In 2021, the Colorado SEOW conducted a statewide needs assessment with public health and prevention professionals that identified a strong need for timely, localized substance use data to support community decision-making. In response, the Colorado SEOW developed Health Statistics Regional Profiles. This presentation highlights key data from the 2026 profiles as a practical resource for local public health professionals, coalitions, and community organizations.
Methods: The Regional Profiles include publicly available statewide and regional surveillance data from multiple public health and partner agency sources. Indicators include youth and adult substance use prevalence, risk and protective factors, alcohol and cannabis outlet density, prescription rates, mental health indicators, treatment utilization, and fatal and nonfatal overdose trends. Data were compiled and analyzed to identify regional patterns and emerging trends across Colorado. The publications are then reviewed by public health and subject matter experts for context and data visualization to ensure the data are easily digestible for all Coloradans interested in talking with their communities about substance use trends.
Results: The 2026 Regional Profiles provide accessible, community-level insights into substance use trends. Findings demonstrate regional variation in substance use behaviors, behavioral health indicators, and prevention resources, highlighting the importance of localized data in informing targeted public health responses.
Implications:
Attendees will gain awareness of emerging substance use trends at both the state and regional levels and learn how to apply the Regional Profiles to support grant writing, community assessments, program planning, policy development, evaluation, and local prevention initiatives.
Background / Purpose: Rural communities face significant barriers to STI care, including limited local services, transportation challenges, cost, and stigma. In Grand County, the public health department is the only provider of free/reduced-cost sexual and reproductive health services. We aim to evaluate whether implementing on-site (point-of-care) gonorrhea and chlamydia (GC/CT) testing in a local public health department can improve timeliness of care and expand equitable access. We hypothesize that same-day testing and treatment will improve clinical outcomes and patient engagement. We will also consider the impact on clinic efficiency through reduced reliance on specimen transport and external lab processing.
Methods: A rural public health department will implement on-site GC/CT testing beginning June 2026 as part of comprehensive reproductive health services. Participants will include patients seeking STI testing and related care. Procedures will include same-visit specimen collection, rapid testing using a CLIA-waived platform, and immediate treatment when indicated. Data will be collected through the electronic medical record and program tracking tools, including visit volume, demographics, insurance status, language preference, and time to treatment. Descriptive analyses will assess changes in access and care delivery.
Results: Results are pending, as implementation will begin in June 2026. Anticipated outcomes include increased uptake of STI testing, reduced time to diagnosis and treatment, and decreased barriers to follow-up, particularly among uninsured and non-English speaking patients. We also will assess clinic efficiency through reduced reliance on specimen transport and external lab processing.
Implications: On-site GC/CT testing has the potential to improve access and reducing disparities via timely, patient-centered education, support, and treatment.
(Note: we could do a 30-minute presentation if preferred, however, there is a lot to present!)
Hannah is the Deputy Director for Grand County Public Health, the lead on Environmental Health, and the Program Director for Reproductive Health Services.
The ability of public health professionals and institutions to fulfill their missions of advancing community health has become increasingly fraught. With fewer resources and heightened pressure to divest from health equity, it is imperative that we work creatively and collaboratively to ensure the well-being of all those in our community. Together, the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), Broomfield Public Health and Environment (BPHE), and Rocky Mountain Equality (RMEQ) propose a showcase on our collaborative and respective research on LGBTQ+ public health data in Colorado and our work to localize the data to make it actionable at the county level.
We will tell the story of our partnership along a visualized map of our journey — the moments that inspired us to pursue our data projects, the funding that supported us, and the findings we identified along the way. In this journey, we explore the search for data on loneliness and social isolation, and the challenges and opportunities presented to make the data relevant at the local level. That approach required this collaboration and the use of mixed methods to localize the data on the LGBTQ+ community in Broomfield.
We will share data from primary data collection efforts by BPHE as well as data from the Colorado Health Access Survey. The session will provide lessons learned throughout this two-year endeavor to showcase gaps and areas of opportunity for other LPHAs across the state. The unique and continuing journey of the partnership of CHI, BPHE, and RMEQ will encourage attendees to think about partnering with other organizations.
Presenters chose the one-hour session time because they want to engage with participants in their own journey mapping to understand where they could establish partnerships to meet the needs of community members.
Sara Torres serves as a Public Health Data Analyst for Broomfield Public Health and Environment. Her work specializes in both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, data-driven storytelling and decision-making, and making data accessible to the public through community... Read More →
Data and Analysis Manager, Colorado Health Institute
Lindsey is the Data and Analysis Manager at CHI and has focused on quantitative data collection, research, and analysis of public health surveillance systems. Lindsey is the data manager for the Colorado Health Access Survey. Lindsey holds a master’s degree in public health with... Read More →
Background: The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) is a school-based health surveillance survey conducted in middle and high schools across the state. The oversample project partnership began in 2013 to increase representation of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Youth. Focused on schools within the Southwest Region 9 service area of the Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center (AASTEC) within the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board (AAIHB), the project’s priority is to develop representative youth data reports for partner Tribal Nations.
Methods: The HKCS is facilitated through a partnership between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado School of Public Health, and community networks. After survey completion, AAIHB/AASTEC staff travel to their service area to deliver gift bags to survey coordinators and teachers. Through a data agreement, AAIHB/AASTEC receives and cleans the dataset, creates reports, and responds to data inquiries for the Southwest Colorado Tribal area.
Results: HKCS and oversample participation metrics as well as statewide results of the 2025 data will be presented. Since 2013, AAIHB/AASTEC has been able to provide Southwest Colorado Tribal area reports and has the capacity to share yearly trend data and analysis of associated risk and protective factors among AI/AN youth.
Implications: The HKCS oversample project is a tool to leverage the experiences of AI/AN youth and promote resources for continued wellbeing. When there are lower numbers of survey responses and data are not representative of the population, small numbers can be easily skewed and misleading. With appropriate, well-intentioned, and protected dissemination of data, organizations have the capacity to better understand youths’ wellbeing and enact policy, programming, or apply for grants accordingly. It is important to build partnerships and awareness across schools so that we can work together to support the health of all youth.
