Public Health Alliance of CO Media Resources

Colorado Home Visiting Program Receives $3.7 million to improve early childhood health and development for at-risk kids

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment received $3.7 million from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to support expansion of evidence-based home visitation programs for at-risk children. Colorado is one of 10 states splitting nearly $72 million in awards released April 3 by the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program created by the Affordable Care Act.
These grants recognize states that have made significant progress in establishing home visiting programs and expanding capacity to reach more children. Home visiting programs provide health, child protection, early education and social services based on a family’s needs. Nurses, social workers or other professionals evaluate families in their homes and connect them to services that can improve children’s health, development and ability to learn.
 “Caring community professionals working with at-risk families can make a real difference in the lives and futures of Colorado kids,” said Dr. Chris Urbina, executive director and chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “This Affordable Care Act investment allows us to continue our successful collaboration with dedicated community members to reach more children.”
Colorado has identified 15 urban and rural at-risk counties that could benefit most from the program. The department will use this Affordable Care Act funding to support state and local groups working to improve the health of mothers and babies, prepare children for school, reduce child maltreatment, improve parenting and improve coordination of community services and resources.
The Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program in Colorado is a collaboration among federal, state and local partners. Colorado partners include:
·        Invest in Kids – This nonprofit organization works with local communities to improve the health and well-being of low-income children and families by identifying, introducing, implementing and ultimately ensuring the success of research-based, proven programs. This includes the Nurse-Family Partnership, a nurse home visitation program for first-time, low-income mothers and their children.
·        Colorado Parent and Child Foundation – The foundation promotes two evidence-based home visiting programs, Parents as Teachers and Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, that support high quality early childhood education programs, facilitate family initiatives to inspire parent involvement and school readiness,  and provide parents with child development and school readiness information.
·        Irving Harris Program in Child Development and Infant Mental Health (University of Colorado, The Children’s Hospital) – This program implements the Healthy Steps program, delivered during pediatric primary care well-child visits and augmented by home visits to support parenting and child development.
·        Head Start State Collaboration Office – This office supports the Early Head Start Home-Based Program to bring services to low income pregnant women, infants and toddlers.

Colorado Air Quality Control Commission to conduct public hearing in Pueblo to consider GCC Rio Grande’s request to modify air permit

WHAT:          A public comment hearing before the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission

WHEN:           Thursday, April 19, 6 p.m.

WHERE:         Pueblo Union Depot
                        132 West B St.
                        Pueblo, CO  81003
 
WHY:             GCC Rio Grande, Inc. has requested a modification of permit(s) issued by the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division to allow for the increased production of cement clinker from the kiln and the use of tire-derived fuel at the company’s Pueblo cement plant (3372 Lime Rd). The hearing is being conducted to seek the comments of any interested person regarding the adequacy of the preliminary analysis and whether the permit should be approved or denied.

NOTES:          The draft construction permit and preliminary analysis can be viewed at the Office of the County Clerk and Recorder, 215 W. 10th St., Pueblo, Colorado, 81003, during regular business hours or at the offices of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division, 4300 Cherry Creek Dr. So., Denver, Colorado, 80246. The information also is available on the department website at http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/ap/airpublicnotices.html.

Health rankings put county 53rd among state’s counties

Las Animas County ranks 53 out of the 57 counties in Colorado in health rankings, according to a recent survey. Still, the county ranks highly in the quality of its environment.

The rankings, published online at www.countyhealthrankings.org by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, are designed to “help counties understand what influences how healthy residents are and how long they will live,” according to its authors. The rankings look at a variety of measures that the researchers believe affect and indicate health conditions, such as the rate of people dying before age 75, access to healthier foods, air pollution levels, rates of smoking, obesity and teen births, and even high school graduation rates and income levels.

 

The study includes each of the 50 states. In Colorado seven of the  57 counties have no ranking because there is insufficient data. Kiowa County is the nearest county to Las Animas County that is unranked. Among nearby counties, Huerfano County ranks 57th, placing it at the bottom in health outcomes, while Baca County ranks 37th. Otero County ranks 52nd in the state while Pueblo County is ranked 49th. Castilla County is ranked at 43rd among the state’s counties, and Bent County ranks 50th in health outcomes.

 

Researchers synthesized information from a variety of national data sources to create the rankings. Data came from places including the National Center for Health Statistics and other units of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare — using Medicare claims data — and the American Community Survey for 2005-2009. In addition to examining information about mortality rates and number of days people report being in poor or fair health (morbidity), researchers looked at factors that affect people’s health within four categories: health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factors, and physical environment.

 

The different categories are given varying weight in how each figured into the formula to achieve a county’s overall health ranking, with mortality and morbidity rates having the greatest weight, and physical environment the least weight.

 

Las Animas County ranked at number 30 among Colorado counties in physical environment, which featured categories such as clean air, access to healthy foods and access to recreational facilities. Las Animas County comes in at number 50 among Colorado counties in the state’s rankings when it comes to morbidity measures such as how often residents feel they are in good health, physically and mentally.

 

Meanwhile the county ranks last in the state when it comes to health behaviors, which include adult smoking and obesity, excessive drinking, motor vehicle crash death rate, sexually transmitted infections, and teen birth rate. The county ranks better in two areas, ranking 42nd in clinical care and 48th in the area of social and economic factors. Clinical care factors include the number of primary care providers to the availability of diabetic and mammography screening to how many adults have health insurance. Social and economic factors range from education levels of residents to unemployment rates to single-parent households to children in poverty.

 

Douglas County had the best health ranking in the state, while nearby Crowley County ranked 56th.

 

 “The rankings really show us with solid data that there is a lot more to health than health care,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, director of the County Health Rankings project and Associate Dean for Public Health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. “Where we live, learn, work and play affect our health, and we need to use the information from the rankings to shine a spotlight on where we need to improve so we can take action to address our problems.”

 

To help counties translate the rankings into action, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is launching a new program to help communities improve the health of their residents. Under this program — part of an initiative called Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health — grants to as many as 14 communities throughout the country will be offered to strengthen broad-based community efforts to improve health.

 

“It’s hard to lead a healthy life if you don’t live in a healthy community,” said Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and chief executive officer of the foundation. “The County Health Rankings are an annual check-up for communities to know how healthy they are and where they can improve. We hope that policymakers, businesses, educators, public health departments and community residents will use the rankings to develop solutions to help people live healthier lives.”

 

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on health and health care issues facing America. It describes itself as the “nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans,” working with a “diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.”

 

The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute is the “focal point” within the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health “for translating public health and health policy research into policy and practice.”

 

Report ranks health of nation, Colorado needs improvement

Whether you smoke, dine out, exercise or see the doctor on a regular basis, where you live has everything to do with how healthy you are according to the latest health report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

If you think Colorado is topping the charts when it comes to health, you may need to think again.

Denver County ranked 45th out of 57 counties statewide in terms of health.

"The factors we look at are smoking and obesity rate," Senior Vice President and Director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, James Marks said. "But we also look at education levels, employment and the safety of our communities. This is where Denver could use some help. These things are broader than something the hospitals can do, everybody needs to get involved."

The second annual County Health Rankings report from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is intended to give communities a roadmap to improve health.

Colorado residents can check online at www.countyhealthrankings.org to compare the health of their county with others in their state. Then they can work together to develop programs and policies that address health factors such as tobacco use, obesity, access to healthcare and healthy foods, education, employment, community safety and air quality.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and CEO Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey won't single out the best and worst counties.

"This is not a race to the top," Lavizzo-Mourey said.

She says even the healthiest counties can do better.

Study: Douglas County healthiest in Colorado; Huerfano ranks last

A study released Wednesday ranks Douglas County as the healthiest county in Colorado, while Huerfano County ranked last.

"We want to help people understand that where they live, work and play matters to their health," said Bridget Booske, a senior scientist at the Wisconsin Population Health Institute, which did the study along with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "What we really want is for counties to look at what they did well and did not do well and roll up their sleeves and work with their communities to identify solutions."

The County Health Rankings ranked almost every county across the country, including 57 of Colorado's 64 counties, based on their overall health. Cheyenne, Dolores, Hinsdale, Jackson, Kiowa, Mineral and San Juan counties were not ranked because of insufficient data.

Some of the factors used in the ranking were the rate of people dying before age 75, the percentage of people who report being in fair or poor health, the number of days people report being in poor physical and mental health, and the rate of infants with low birth weights.

Eagle, Pitkin, Boulder and Summit counties round out Colorado's top five, while Huerfano County is joined in the bottom five by Crowley, Fremont, Montezuma and Las Animas. Denver ranked 45th of the 57.

"This report helps us to look at what areas of the state need special attention or exceptions to policy we have in place," said Sue Birch, executive director of Colorado's Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. "We can work on improving areas of weakness as well as learning from areas of strength."

Richard Vogt, executive director of the Tri-County Health Department, which serves Douglas County as well as Adams and Arapahoe, said that higher income and education were probably the main factors in the top ranking for Douglas County, which was ranked at the top for Colorado in last year's study. But he said that even counties with high rankings have areas to improve.

"I don't want people to think that if they live in counties ranked one or two that their problems are solved," Vogt said. "I personally feel that the underlying information behind the rankings is more important. The rankings are catchy, but in reality, we need to delve beneath them to find what's working and what's not working."

On the other end of the rankings, officials with Huerfano County believe that the statistics may be misleading because many residents go to neighboring Pueblo County for medical care.

"I see healthy people doing healthy things," said Bruce Quintana, the mayor of Walsenburg, the largest city in Huerfano County. "The numbers are kind of skewed, and I think we have better overall health than depicted."

Herding Colorado Health Indicators

Wouldn’t it be great if you could find data from the American Community Survey, Colorado Department of Education, Colorado Bureau of Investigation, CDPHE, and more all in one place? And search it by county? And download that data into Excel? Well, now you can.

CDPHE recently launched the Colorado Health Indicators website. This website provides county, regional and state-level data on a variety of health, environmental and social topics. The dataset was created as part of the Colorado Health Assessment and Planning System (CHAPS,) which is a standard process established to help local public health agencies meet assessment and planning requirements. The data are specifically designed to be useful for anyone who needs Colorado health data for a community health assessment or for other research purposes.

Read the full article here.

Recession Takes Bite Out of Nation's Public Health Nursing Infrastructure

Budget cuts are latest challenge to public health nurses at a time when the sick, the poor, the elderly and the underserved are relying on their services.

Earlier this year, a homeless woman in the seventh month of her pregnancy walked into a prenatal clinic in Washington state with a toddler in tow. She walked out with a prenatal care appointment and a few brochures—but not the wider range of health services she really needed.

Why the brush-off? The nurses on staff could not treat her greater needs themselves and they could not connect her with a public health nurse who could help her. State and local legislators struggling to balance ever tighter budgets had cut funding for public health nursing, leaving those who rely on their services without full access to them.

Read the full article here.

Investments in Public Health and Prevention Save Lives and Money

Even though America spends more than $2 trillion annually on health care—more than any other nation in the world—tens of millions of Americans suffer every day from preventable diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer, which rob them of their health and quality of life. A series of research reports funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provides valuable new information for policy-makers and other public officials who are looking for ways to help Americans stay healthy and get the economy back on track.

Read the full article here.

FREE Webinar on Helping Pregnant Women Quit Smoking Available

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Tobacco Prevention and Cessation

A recording of last month's webinar on helping pregnant women quit smoking is now available by clicking HERE and selecting the "Training" tab.

The Webinar, "Tools to Help Pregnant Women Quit Smoking: Motivational, Pharmacological, and Behavioral Strategies," was originally presented Oct. 19 by Dr. Heather LaChance for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

 

This webinar provides essentials of smoking cessation for prenatal and postpartum women. This seminar discusses how smoking impacts mothers' and infants' health, and details the dangers of secondhand smoke. It reviews the treatment options for smoking cessation, including pharmacotherapy, best practices and brief motivational counseling options. You will learn specific counseling strategies to motivate smokers and the tools to work with smokers who are ready to quit. Finally, you will learn about the prenatal tobacco cessation campaign and see materials designed to inspire smokers to engage in smoking cessation.

 

We hope those of you who could not attend the original Webinar find the archived recording and resources useful.

 

Emma Goforth

Tobacco Cessation Coordinator

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

Emma.Goforth@state.co.us

Gov. Hickenlooper delivers FY 2012-13 proposed budget to JBC

DENVER ­— Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 — Gov. John Hickenlooper today delivered the FY 2012-13 proposed budget to the Joint Budget Committee.

“As you will see, the budget reflects the ongoing work of closing the State’s structural budget gap and funding the demands of numerous federal and State Constitutional requirements,” Hickenlooper wrote in a letter to the JBC. “The proposal also contains several proposals to protect the most vulnerable Coloradans, promote economic growth, continue needed reforms in education and modernize State government.”

The FY 2012-13 proposed budget is $20.09 billion, of which $7.39 billion is from the General Fund. These amounts represent growth rates over the last fiscal year of 1.7% ($342.6 million) in total funds and 3.2% ($227.1 million) in the General Fund.

“The General Fund budget (financed by income and sales taxes) is the area of the budget that is most reflective of the overall economic condition of the state,” the governor’s letter said. “Though there has been a partial recovery from the recent recession, the revenue picture remains unsettled and we expect only modest General Fund revenue growth in FY 2012-13.”

 Demands for State services and benefits over the past five years have increased substantially and reflect the pressures of a growing population and a weak economy. Specifically:

• · Medicaid enrollment has increased by 281,000 (72%),
• · Children’s Health Plan+ caseload has increased by 11,000 (19%),
• · K-12 student enrollment has increased by 52,000 (6.8%),
• · Higher Education enrollment has increased 33,600 (20.5%), and
• · Annual State Park visits have increased by 766,000 (6.5%).

The largest areas of increase in spending in FY 2012-13 are in mandatory areas of the budget. The new General Fund resources for the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) accounts for more than 81.7 percent of the statewide General Fund increase. This is even after HCPF made $31.9 million of Medicaid budget reductions.

“As the economy has weakened, more people are eligible for the program and we are obligated to finance those costs,” Hickenlooper wrote to the JBC. “Please note that while new federal health care rules prevent our ability to restrict eligibility to save money, many of the expanded health coverage populations from recent years are not paid with General Fund dollars. Rather, those expansions are covered by the hospital provider fee established by House Bill 09-1293.”

Meanwhile, though the state is experiencing a modest decline in the incarcerated population at the Department of Corrections (DOC), the expected caseload is higher than previously estimated and thus new funds are needed. The combined increases to HCPF and the DOC, account for 91.9 percent of the net General Fund increase in FY 2012-13.

With respect to the total funds budget, absent the increase to HCPF, the overall FY 2012-13 State budget would decline from initial FY 2011-12 levels.

Though the overall budget is increasing, it reflects reductions both large and small across most State departments, including significant reductions to K-12 and higher education. In total, the state’s Office of State Planning and Budgeting identified $679 million that could not be financed under currently available resources.

“Though this budget request reflects some difficult choices, we believe there are important policy changes and initiatives that merit your consideration and approval,” Hickenlooper’s letter said.

The proposed budget includes five key priorities:

• · Protect the Vulnerable. The Department of Human Services is requesting $4.9 million total funds ($2.4 million net General Fund) to provide services to 173 additional people with developmental disabilities. The proposed budget also suspends the Senior Homestead Exemption yet expands the existing Colorado Property Tax/Rent/Heat Rebate in 39-31-101, C.R.S, to help the state’s neediest seniors.
• · Economic Development. The proposed budget seeks to add to the state’s available tools with three initiatives: allocating $6 million to the Economic Development Council; allocating $3.1 million to fund the Governor’s Energy Office with Limited Gaming funds; and allocating $3 million from Limited Gaming funds to start an innovative loan program to promote film production and location within Colorado.
• · Education Reform. The proposed budget includes $7.7 million to begin implementation of Senate Bill 10-191; specifically, the request will fund three critical features of the educator effectiveness evaluation system called for in the legislation.
• · Modernizing Government. The proposed budget includes a request to modernize two specific areas: the Colorado Financial Reporting System (the State’s accounting system) and a consolidation of more than 30 data servers to two secure centers.
• · Long-term Budget Planning. For many years, the State has relied on year-to-year budgeting and spending decisions that are disconnected from the economy and available revenue. Before multi-year budgets can work, future spending and delayed obligations must be kept to a minimum and they must reflect the realities of revenue availability. To that end, it is time to take a fresh look at statutory schedules for new or increased spending.

The entire letter from the governor to the Joint Budget Committee about the FY 2012-13 proposed budget can be found online here.