| IDENTIFYING NEEDS Colorado’s public health system is widely decentralized, including governmental agencies, non-governmental health organizations, and other private and community-based organizations such as businesses, schools, faith-based organizations, nonprofits and foundations. This scattered system, combined with the continuing decline of federal, state and local public health budgets, has increased the need for the ongoing coordination and provision of essential public health services. Weaknesses in the public health infrastructure, well-documented in various assessments and reports, compromise the ability to protect Coloradans from emerging health threats; whereas a strong health system helps to identify and monitor disease outbreaks, promotes healthy behaviors and improves health services. CRAFTING SOLUTIONS Building on its recently-completed Colorado Healthy People 2010 Initiative, The Trust’s new Partnerships for Health Initiative seeks to signifi cantly strengthen community health providers’ ability to coordinate the delivery of health services. Through this effort, each of the 14 partnerships is working to develop a coordinated strategic plan around a Healthy People 2010 focus area that has been identified as a priority for its community, tracking and working together on issues such as improving access to health care and dental care, or reducing methamphetamine usage. |
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Ayelet Talmi’s passion is providing improved, seamless inpatient and outpatient care for infants and toddlers. “One of our biggest challenges is a lack of communication among the variousstakeholders who provide services for babies and young children with special health care needs,” said the clinical psychologist at The Children’s Hospital. “How do we make things go more smoothly for the families of such babies? “The Trust’s vision of creating long-term systems change provides us with the credibility and buy-in we need to develop good relationships among all the organizations that relate to babies and their families – direct providers, community services, government agencies, school systems, foundations, federal programs and so on.” Through the Partnerships for Health Initiative, Ayelet is helping to coordinate the efforts of service providers in the hospital and the community by facilitating strong liaisons among the different organizations involved. “We’re helping to guide families through transitions, from the hospital to their homes, to community services like physical therapy, and speech and language training. We’re also helping families find appropriate daycare or preschool settings, and medical homes within primary care settings, all of which can be incredibly challenging for children who need ongoing medical support.” Another important aspect of this effort, says Ayelet, is to make such transitions smoother for non-English speaking families by partnering with multicultural advocacy groups. “Overall, the goal of these partnerships is to establish an effective referral and service network,” she said. |
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