Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Background and Purpose. A Community Health Assessment (CHA) highlights community strengths, uncovers public health disparities, and communicates critical health needs to multiple audiences. In rural and frontier communities, it can do something more: it can be a catalyst for community engagement, cross-sector partnership, and lasting trust between a health department and the residents it serves. Small, rural, and frontier local health departments (LHDs) often complete CHAs as compliance exercises, producing reports written in technical language that the communities they describe cannot access or use. This session showcases a community-driven approach developed across rural communities in the Pacific Northwest that treats the CHA process itself as an act of partnership.

Methods. The approach involves conducting surveys, interviews, and focus groups with English- and Spanish-speaking residents and community leaders, then working with local health departments and community advisory boards to develop CHA reports that speak to the community and reflect their perspectives and insight. Quantitative evidence is presented using rural-appropriate techniques — including per-1,000 rather than per-100,000 rates that more honestly reflect small-population realities — and qualitative findings are woven in through direct resident quotes in both English and Spanish. Final reports are written in plain language with strengths-based framing and translated into Spanish so the full community can read and use them.

Results. Trust and rapport building, accountability, and transparency emerged as the most important factors in both data collection and report development. Communities reported feeling genuinely represented in the findings, and local partners used the reports as shared tools for cross-sector action rather than filing them away.

Implications. Attendees will learn how to engage their community and leave with a sample engagement timeline, a plain-language reporting checklist, and reflection prompts for applying this approach in Colorado's rural and frontier context.

Diet-related chronic health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, are the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Food is Medicine (FIM) interventions have emerged as a crucial component of state and federal strategies to address the root causes of chronic disease and the complications of severe and complex conditions, as well as rising healthcare costs and other multifaceted priorities. FIM interventions encompass a spectrum of nutrition services, including medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions, which are tailored to patient needs and integrated into the healthcare system through referrals from medical providers.

Founded in Denver, Project Angel Heart has been preparing and delivering medically tailored meals to Coloradans living with severe illnesses for over 30 years. As part of our FY2021-FY2025 Strategic Plan, the organization undertook an ambitious geographic expansion, tripling our service area to encompass 17 counties and over 85% of Colorado’s population. This session will reflect on the strategies and tactics that led to the success of the geographic expansion, and share lessons learned during its implementation.

Public health is built on systems thinking - so why does changing our own systems feel so hard?

This interactive session explores the tension between public health’s desire for innovation and the organizational cultures that often reward caution, compliance, consensus, and risk avoidance. Rather than offering polished success stories, this session creates space for an honest conversation about the realities many practitioners, leaders, educators, and students are already navigating.

Drawing from experiences in workforce development, leadership, epidemiology, teaching, innovation, and community practice, the presenters will explore how organizational culture shapes whose ideas move forward, how change is experienced by teams, and why even well-intentioned systems can struggle to adapt. Participants will reflect on the human cost of constant adaptation, the challenges of leading through uncertainty, and the paradox of asking burned-out systems to continuously transform.

This session is designed to be thoughtful, practical, and interactive. Participants should expect candid discussion, audience engagement, shared reflection, and concrete strategies for navigating change in ways that are more adaptive, relational, and sustainable.

Public health systems and healthcare organizations are facing increasing pressures from workforce shortages, fragmented care coordination, rising behavioral health needs, and inequitable access to care. At the same time, many healthcare facilities continue to be planned using siloed approaches that separate operations, infrastructure, technology, and patient experience planning.

This session explores how “digital visioning” and ecosystem-based planning can support stronger, more connected, and more equitable healthcare systems before construction and implementation begin.

Using real-world healthcare planning initiatives, this presentation demonstrates how collaborative planning approaches can strengthen public health infrastructure by aligning clinicians, operations leaders, public health professionals, facilities teams, architects, engineers, and technology strategists around shared community health goals.

Topics include:

* Hybrid and virtual care ecosystems
* Smart patient environments supporting workforce resilience
* Operational coordination and communication strategies
* Digitally enabled patient navigation and engagement
* Future-ready infrastructure supporting adaptability and sustainability
* Cross-disciplinary planning models that reduce fragmentation and improve connectedness

Methods include interdisciplinary workshops, future-state operational mapping, capability assessments, and collaborative planning exercises focused on equitable and resilient healthcare delivery.

Emerging outcomes demonstrate improved organizational alignment, stronger workforce support strategies, enhanced patient access pathways, and increased readiness for future healthcare challenges.

Participants will leave with practical strategies for integrating health equity, connectedness, collaboration, and long-term resilience into healthcare planning initiatives that support healthier communities across Colorado and beyond.