Public Health in the Rockies 2026

Public health professionals are increasingly required to engage in complex, and often contentious, conversations—particularly around vaccines and other high-profile health issues. While access to accurate information is essential, research consistently shows that data alone is insufficient to influence decision-making or build trust. There is a clear need for skill development in communication strategies that are grounded in evidence, responsive to community concerns, and adaptable across diverse audiences.

This skill-building session is designed to address that gap by equipping participants with practical tools to communicate effectively with a range of stakeholders, including community members, healthcare providers, and policymakers. The session will focus on key content areas including audience-centered messaging, strategies for addressing misinformation, and approaches for translating complex public health data into clear, actionable, and accessible messages. Particular attention will be given to how communication strategies can be adapted to reflect community values, lived experiences, and varying levels of trust in public health systems.

The session is grounded in best practices from public health communication, behavioral science, and motivational interviewing. It emphasizes the importance of trust-building, active listening, and framing messages in ways that resonate with different audiences. Participants will learn how to move beyond one-directional information sharing and instead engage in meaningful, two-way dialogue that supports informed decision-making and strengthens relationships between communities and public health systems.

This session directly supports skill development by focusing on real-world application. Rather than a lecture-based format, the session is designed to provide participants with opportunities to practice and refine communication strategies that can be immediately applied in their professional settings. The skills developed in this session are critical for public health professionals working in clinical, community, and policy environments, particularly as they navigate increasing misinformation and polarization.

This session aligns with the Public Health in the Rockies theme of Stronger Together by emphasizing collaboration, shared learning, and the importance of engaging across differences. By centering communication as a tool for building trust and advancing health equity, the session supports CPHA’s commitment to fostering a more equitable public health system. It recognizes that historical and structural inequities—including racism—shape how communities experience and respond to public health efforts, and it provides participants with strategies to communicate in ways that are inclusive, respectful, and responsive.

Ultimately, this session is relevant to a wide range of public health professionals seeking to strengthen their ability to communicate effectively, use data to support advocacy, and build more resilient, community-centered public health systems.

Public health is facing decreasing funding and increasingly complex health challenges like high rates of chronic diseases, substance misuse, multi-state outbreaks, rising suicide rates, and natural disasters. There are no single, simple solutions to these problems and no organization can do it alone. To affect system-wide changes, we must first understand how the system is currently functioning and work together with partners to identify opportunities for change.

Background / Purpose: Colorado faces significant healthcare access disparities driven by economic, geographic, and systemic barriers. Federal workforce shortage models fall short in modeling these gaps because they exclude non-physician clinicians, fail to capture demographic variations in demand, and use a relatively coarse geographic resolution. In 2018 in response to these limitations, Board of Health Rule 6 CCR 1015-6 created authority for state health professional shortage area (sHPSA) designation to be administered in parallel with federal HPSAs. In this presentation, we debut our latest advancement to this work: Our newly developed Medicaid-specific sHPSAs.

Methods: Data capturing the supply of Medicaid health services were available via a custom Medicaid Claims data extract from the Colorado All-Payer Claims Database (CO APCD). The annual volume of Medicaid encounters is summed for each healthcare facility and health discipline (primary, dental, behavioral, and perinatal). Demand is based on Census Block Group Medicaid enrollment estimates, and is adjusted for varying rates of need by age, sex, and health discipline. The Variable Two-Step Floating Catchment Area method is used to calculate the ratio between supply and demand for each census block group.

Results: Medicaid sHPSAs yield a highly accurate, localized assessment of shortage by comparing actual Medicaid claims data to the demographic-specific needs of the enrolled population. Similar to all-payer models, shortages are most severe in rural and frontier communities; however, Medicaid sHPSAs reveal a distinct geographic pattern relative to all-payer models.

Implications: Medicaid-specific shortage models are increasingly important given the evolving federal policy landscape, constrained state budgets, and changing Medicaid eligibility requirements. Relying solely on all-payer models risks obscuring specific access barriers experienced by the Medicaid enrolled population. This strategic approach accurately maps where shifts in Medicaid coverage intersect with safety-net capacity, enabling state and local organizations to direct interventions efficiently and optimize limited public resources.

Public health professionals are navigating increasing levels of burnout, compassion fatigue, workforce strain, and disconnection from the deeper purpose that brought them into this work. This interactive wellness and professional development session is designed to create intentional space for reflection, restoration, and reconnection through guided journaling, facilitated mindfulness practices, and peer connection.

Participants will engage in a series of reflective prompts exploring identity, values, resilience, leadership, boundaries, hope, and purpose within both their personal and professional lives. Through trauma-informed facilitation and narrative reflection, attendees will be invited to reconnect with the motivations and commitments that sustain their work in public health and community care.

The second half of the session will focus on structured networking and community-building through paired and small-group dialogue. Participants will have the opportunity to share insights, experiences, and commitments in a supportive environment that fosters authentic connection and collective encouragement.

This session is designed not only as a moment of personal renewal, but as a practical professional development experience that strengthens reflective leadership, emotional sustainability, relationship-building, and workforce resilience. Attendees will leave with actionable reflective practices, deeper peer connections, and renewed clarity around the impact and purpose of their work.

Across 2024-2025, the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials (CALPHO), in partnership with the Colorado Health Institute (CHI), the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and local public health agencies (LPHAs), conducted a statewide data assessment to better understand local public health data capacity. Using a mixed-methods approach that included journey mapping workshops and key informant interviews, the assessment identified key barriers, strengths, and actionable opportunities to improve Colorado’s local public health data ecosystem.

Findings from the assessment highlighted a strong need for accessible resources and direct technical assistance designed to meet agencies where they are and support immediate application within local contexts. In direct response to barriers and opportunities identified through the assessment, CALPHO has developed a range of practical capacity-building support resources and launched a data assistance program to help agencies use data more effectively.

This session will highlight applied tools, customizable support services, and real-world examples of how local public health agencies are using these supports in practice. Topics will include CALPHO’s Data Modernization Toolkit & Framework, direct technical assistance, and collaborative peer learning opportunities designed to support shared learning and approaches that can be adapted across agencies of varying size and capacity.

Through local public health use cases, attendees will leave with a clear understanding of what shared resources currently exist, how they can be used within their own agencies, and how to engage in ongoing statewide data modernization efforts moving forward.

Background: Long COVID impacts thousands of Coloradans, causing a wide range of chronic symptoms requiring comprehensive care. Primary care is typically the first point of health system contact for patients experiencing Long COVID symptoms. As part of the Colorado Multidisciplinary Translation Network (CO-MTN) project, we surveyed primary care clinicians and staff from 17 different practices to understand their perspectives on provision of Long COVID care.

Methods: Data were collected via REDCap and descriptively analyzed. Survey questions included perceived importance of, satisfaction with, barriers to, and confidence in ability to provide Long COVID care. We also assessed discrimination and stigma towards Long COVID patients using the Medical Condition Regard scale.

Results: We received survey responses from 249 primary care clinicians and staff (75% response rate). Most (69%) indicated they thought that primary care practices should provide treatment and symptom management for patients with Long COVID. When asked how satisfied they were with their practice’s ability to help patients manage Long COVID symptoms, 42% reported satisfaction while half reported that it depended on the patient or that they didn’t know. Frequently cited concerns regarding provision of Long COVID care included lack of workflows, gaps in clinician knowledge, and limited time. Nearly half of clinicians reported low confidence in their ability to provide high-quality Long COVID symptom management. Few respondents answered the Medical Condition Regard scale questions in ways that strongly indicated discrimination or stigma towards patients with Long COVID. However, only 39% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that “working with patients like this is satisfying.”

Implications: There is room for improvement in primary care teams’ abilities and capacities to care for Long COVID patients. The CO-MTN project is now implementing a variety of supports for primary care practices to address these gaps.

APPs (Advanced Practice Providers) provide both clinical care and clinical education to APP learners across numerous health systems in Colorado. APP training pathways have significantly fewer clinical hours than physician training models, therefore creation of high-quality clinical education programs for APP learners is all the more important to ensure ongoing high quality medical care for our patients.

Creation of a Public Health curriculum would aim to optimize the educational value of this limited clinical time through structured, competency-oriented modules that encompass the scope of the Public Health Institute at Denver Health.

The intent of this curriculum is to ensure a comprehensive experience for the learner by ensuring development of foundational skills that can translate into competency and confidence in early career. Additionally, the goal is to attract students passionate about public health and help support their career development, encouraging them to enter the field post-graduation.

In collaboration several clinical experts at the Public Health Institute at Denver Health, we have developed a curriculum including clinical modules, competencies and resources. Additionally, we developed pre/post surveys for learners and Public Health Practitioners to evaluate the impact of this intervention.

The following will be measured via before and after intervention:

·APP learner experience

·APP learner confidence

·Public Health Practitioner willingness to host learners

·Public Health Practitioner perception of learner preparedness

This is an area of novel development. Research suggests longitudinal programs for medical students are successful in creating providers that outperform counterparts in clinical skills and knowledge. This is an unstudied area for APP learners. Yet, we hypothesize that a framework for longitudinal curriculum for APPs could also yield the similar outcomes while attracting and retaining highly competent and confident Early Career APPs in Public Health.

Our hope is that this curriculum will provide a transferrable framework for any institution to use.

Regional networks can leverage the strengths of diverse organizations to address behavioral health service shortages. This presentation will overview a year-long translatable process for building and sustaining such networks, including a case example in which this approach was sequentially implemented across three different rural regions of Colorado to address nicotine use.

The Regional Networks for Comprehensive Tobacco Treatment (RNCTT) leveraged the Performance Partnership Model (PPM) to engage leaders from different communities in directed, collaborative goal setting. The RNCTT focused on pursuing what communities can accomplish innovatively and rapidly, using their existing infrastructure and no additional funding. Each year, the RNCTT convened a new regional network in a rural part of Colorado which included public health organizations, health care providers, hospitals, community-based organizations, school districts, and more. Networks collectively identified goals to address nicotine use at the regional level, while also pursuing supportive organizational-level goals.

Each regional network was launched by an in-person Action Forum. During this event, didactic, regional information related to nicotine was relayed. Project facilitators led the organizations in network building and goal setting activities. Throughout the project year, organizations met regularly to share updates, successes, and challenges. They also received tailored technical assistance that supported goal achievement and free access to evidence-based trainings designed to increase knowledge and capacity to treat nicotine use. Each project year culminated in an in-person Sustainability Meeting at which project facilitators supported the creation of a sustainability plan to guide future progress and strategically relinquished leadership to the network itself. The RNCTT project empowered three rural regions in Colorado to develop new regional connections and enhanced their capacity to address nicotine use. Thus, the RNCTT project demonstrates the potential for diverse organizations in a region to convene and collaborate to leverage their respective specialties to collectively address public health concerns.

* Background/Purpose: What happens when public health thinks like a business partnership? Faced with low referral volume into the Family Connects program, we adopted a business development/sales approach to drive utilization. This project examined the effectiveness of this strategy. Research question: Can a business development/sales approach increase referrals from physician offices into a program? Hypothesis: Aligning referral processes with provider workflows, identifying mutual value with clinical partners, and addressing barriers will increase referrals and provider participation.
* Methods: Participants included families with newborns and referring physician practices. This project employed intervention procedures and methods of data collection and analysis over a two-year period. Intervention procedures applied business development and sales strategies to identify mutual value with clinical partners and align referral processes with provider workflows. Key activities included designing workflow-integrated referral processes, conducting targeted provider engagement, identifying and addressing barriers, and integrating pathways into healthcare systems. Instrumentation included EHR-based transmissions and faxed forms. Data collected included referral volume from physician offices, number of referring providers, and clinical sites. Measures were tracked to assess outreach effectiveness. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and trend analyses, including time series analysis, to evaluate changes in referral patterns and assess the impact of outreach strategies.
* Results: Referrals from physician offices increased from 0 to an average of 50/month, with growth in the number of referring clinical sites and providers. The capture rate relative to the estimated eligible population also improved. Trend and time series analyses demonstrated a sustained increase in referral volume.
* Implications: Business development strategies can transform public health outreach from promotion into a structured function that improves utilization. Organizations can replicate this approach using business strategies, resource allocation, and strategic relationship management to build sustainable, scalable access pathways.
* Additional time enables hands-on application, small-group discussion, and audience examples using a structured workbook.

Healthcare and public health systems are facing increasing pressures from workforce shortages, fragmented care coordination, behavioral health demands, rural access challenges, and growing community health inequities. Many organizations continue to operate independently, creating barriers to continuity of care, patient navigation, and coordinated workforce support.

This session explores how regional care coordination ecosystems—supported through collaborative command center models—can strengthen connected public health networks, improve equitable access, and support workforce resilience across communities.

Rather than focusing solely on hospital operations, this presentation reframes command centers as community coordination platforms capable of supporting:

* regional workforce collaboration,
* hybrid and virtual care coordination,
* behavioral health escalation pathways,
* patient navigation,
* rural specialty access,
* multilingual outreach,
* community health engagement,
* telehealth coordination,
* and continuity of care across settings.

Methods include interdisciplinary planning workshops, ecosystem mapping, operational workflow analysis, and collaborative future-state planning exercises involving healthcare systems, public health leaders, operational teams, clinicians, and infrastructure strategists.

Emerging findings suggest that connected coordination ecosystems can reduce fragmentation, improve communication pathways, strengthen workforce sustainability, and create more resilient systems capable of responding to both daily operational challenges and future public health emergencies.

The session also explores how digitally enabled coordination models may support underserved populations through improved navigation, outreach, and access pathways while strengthening collaboration between healthcare organizations and public health agencies.

Participants will leave with practical planning strategies, implementation considerations, and future-focused approaches for building stronger and more connected public health ecosystems across urban, rural, and regional communities.

Background/Purpose: Healthcare organizations can play a key role in addressing food insecurity among their patients. Although healthcare workers’ experiences and beliefs likely shape how their organizations address food insecurity, little is known about those perspectives, particularly in rural areas. We therefore sought to assess lived experience with and beliefs about food insecurity among healthcare staff and clinicians in western Colorado.

Methods: We distributed an online survey to healthcare organizations across western Colorado. Following descriptive and bivariate analyses, we used structural equation modeling to examine constructs of interest. These included perspectives attributing food insecurity to “structural” influences (e.g., high cost of food) and “individual” level influences (e.g., “budgeting poorly”), as well as perceived negative judgement around use of assistance programs.

Results: We received responses from 347 clinicians, support workers, and operations staff across 16 counties. Eighteen percent reported current food insecurity; 46% reported past food insecurity. Sixty-nine percent and 95% believed that food insecurity was caused by individual and structural influences, respectively. Over 60% believed that there was negative judgment around use of food assistance programs in their community. The structural equation modeling indicated that respondent factors (age, sex, personal experience with food insecurity) may influence 1) beliefs about causes of food insecurity and 2) perceived judgment around use of food assistance programs.

Implications: These findings raise concerns that nearly one-fifth of the health care workers surveyed were food insecure themselves as well as questions about how healthcare organizations can address food insecurity in an effective and non-stigmatizing manner.

To support professional development and practical readiness, we propose an interactive, skill-building session designed specifically for public health nurses (PHNs). We will focus on strengthening nurse leadership skills at all employment levels. This session will include a panel discussion from public health nurse leaders and peer-to-peer education. Topics have yet to be finalized based on feedback from the PHN section members on their most pressing needs. Topics under discussion include: public health policy, partnership building, navigating funding challenges, and fostering public health nurse leadership in changing times. This session will provide participants with both theoretical frameworks for thinking about leadership and specific techniques that can be applied to their local practice. It will also facilitate connections between public health nurses at a variety of levels of practice and across jurisdictions.

Access to comprehensive, person-centered contraceptive care remains limited in rural and underserved communities, where workforce shortages and restricted clinical scope impede timely service delivery. The Full Scope Forward (FSF) RN Nexplanon Training is a program innovation designed to expand rural registered nurse (RN) capacity to provide evidence-based contraceptive care, including etonogestrel implant (Nexplanon) insertion and removal, within Title X and public health settings.


This hybrid training model integrates asynchronous and synchronous learning using the Podia learning management system and Vimeo for delivery of eight videos, complemented by twelve competency-based job aids. The curriculum emphasizes application of national clinical guidelines, including the U.S. Medical Eligibility Criteria and Selected Practice Recommendations, alongside structured approaches to person-centered contraceptive counseling. Eight Colorado RNs serving rural communities are currently enrolled, with a focus on building clinical confidence, procedural competency, and workflow integration. RNs must complete Nexplanon REMS certification and Organon’s Nexplanon training prior to provision of Nexplanon.

The FSF Training Hub aligns directly with CPHA's strategic plan and objectives, as well as the PHiR conference mission by: (1) strengthening application of evidence-based guidelines to improve contraceptive care outcomes; (2) integrating person-centered counseling frameworks that support reproductive autonomy and informed decision-making; and (3) advancing innovative workforce models by expanding RN scope of practice and leveraging digital tools to increase access and efficiency in low-resource settings.

Preliminary outcomes include increased RN knowledge, improved readiness to provide implant services, and enhanced clinic capacity to offer same-day contraceptive care in rural clinics. Ongoing evaluation will assess competency attainment, service uptake, and patient experience.

CORE would like to demonstrate how collaborative, technology enabled training models can transform the SRH workforce and improve equitable access to high quality contraceptive care.

Background / Purpose: Breast cancer mortality in the United States falls unevenly across racial and ethnic lines. Black women have a 38% higher breast cancer mortality rate than White women despite a 5% lower incidence, and they carry significantly higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity, comorbidities that interact syndemically with breast cancer to worsen outcomes. Federally-funded clinical trials shape the evidence base for breast cancer care, yet the extent to which they account for these metabolic comorbidities in trial design has not been systematically examined.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 90 completed NIH- and other federal agency-funded female breast cancer clinical trials registered on ClinicalTrials.gov as of July 2023. Three parallel evaluation methods were applied: systematic review of inclusion and exclusion criteria; pharmacologic analysis of FDA-labeled and off-label drug indications for every intervention, conducted by credentialed pharmacology team members; and AI-assisted keyword recognition across protocol texts, with human adjudication. Trials were stratified into pharmacological and device interventions (n=72) and behavioral interventions (n=18).

Results: Fewer than 15% of trials explicitly addressed T2D in eligibility criteria; only one trial explicitly addressed obesity. Approximately 75% made no mention of diabetes, and over 90% made no mention of obesity. Only five trials considered both comorbidities together. Behavioral interventions targeting diet, exercise, and weight management failed almost universally to screen for or stratify by metabolic status.

Implications: Federally-funded breast cancer research remains predominantly reductionist in design, overlooking the metabolic and syndemic realities that shape outcomes for Black women, Latina, South Asian, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women. Future NIH funding should prioritize trial designs that integrate metabolic comorbidities into eligibility, stratification, and analytic frameworks to advance equity in cancer research.

Mental health challenges—including stress, burnout, and emotional fatigue—continue to rise across populations, underscoring the need for accessible, preventive strategies that support wellbeing at both individual and community levels. Mindfulness has emerged as an evidence-informed, low-cost intervention that can enhance emotional regulation, resilience, and overall mental health across diverse settings.

This interactive session introduces mindfulness as a scalable public health approach to promote mental well-being and resilience. Grounded in research from public health, neuroscience, and behavioral health, participants will explore practical, accessible mindfulness techniques that can be integrated into clinical, educational, workplace, and community-based environments. Emphasis will be placed on prevention, early intervention, and health promotion across populations.

Participants will engage in guided mindfulness practices, reflective activities, and group dialogue to better understand how these strategies can reduce stress and support psychological resilience. The session will also highlight approaches for embedding mindfulness into existing systems and programs, including community health initiatives, interprofessional education, and organizational wellness efforts.

Audience polling will be used to capture shifts in participant awareness and perceived stress before and after practice. Attendees will receive curated resources—including digital tools and implementation strategies—to support dissemination and sustainability in their own settings.

By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with actionable, evidence-informed strategies to promote mental well-being, foster supportive environments, and contribute to a culture of health within their communities.