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All in Adams: What Is Public Health, Anyway? A National Public Health Week Conversation
42 Plays23 days ago
Most people interact with public health every day without realizing it. In honor of National Public Health Week, we're breaking it all down - what public health actually is, what the Adams County Health Department does, and why it matters to all who live, work, and play here.
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Transcript
Welcome to 'All In Adams' Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to All In Adams, the official podcast of Adams County Government, where we're all in for our residents, our employees, and our community. So whether you live here, work here, or you just want to know more about what makes Adams County a great place to be, thanks for tuning in. We're all in, Adams.
National Public Health Week Theme Introduction
00:00:22
Speaker
Hello, welcome to All In Adams. I'm Jennifer Lucero Alvarez, Strategic Communications Manager with the Adams County Health Department. Today, this week actually, is National Public Health Week with a theme of Ready, Set, Action.
00:00:38
Speaker
And today I'm sitting with Dr. Kelly Weidenbach of the Adams County Health Department and Levon Hupfer of the Health Department as well to talk about what is public health, what are we doing here in Adams County, and why is it important to those who live, work, and play here?
00:00:57
Speaker
Happy National Public Health Week to you both. You too. Let's start at the beginning.
Formation of Adams County Health Department
00:01:06
Speaker
Adams County Health Department has been around for three years now. For those who don't necessarily know much about us, Kelly, please introduce ACHD and what we're here to do.
00:01:20
Speaker
Thanks, Jen. ah Yeah. Adams County Health Department was formed and opened in January of 2023. This ah this department was born out of the diss so dissolution of the Tri-County Health Department as a regional county health department.
00:01:36
Speaker
um The Adams County commissioners voted in 2021 to break free from that regional health department model and open up a health department that was fully focused on um Adams County residents, Adams County needs.
00:01:51
Speaker
And ah they really wanted the department to address social determinants of health, understanding how our economic stability or mobility might impact our health, how um transportation, our environment, other um factors that influence health other than just our own personal behaviors. And so um i was tasked with building the department and ah we are required under statute to provide certain services that all health departments are required under um Colorado law.
00:02:23
Speaker
But we're also able to really meet the needs of the community um here in Adams County, which is unique and different than some of our ah adjacent counties in the Denver and metro area.
00:02:33
Speaker
So that's been an honor to serve the Adams County community and really take a look at what those individualized needs are of the of the community at large. Great.
00:02:44
Speaker
And Levon, what has that been like personally for you to be a part of building this? It's been amazing. um Being able to be a part of of a department that's brand new, I mean, you don't you don't really get an opportunity to do that your whole career. So um when Kelly started the department, she started it from scratch. I joined about two and a half years ago.
00:03:10
Speaker
And just the uniqueness of not having any pre-existing sort of notions or culture in a department is is really rare. And so we had the ability to ask people in our community and businesses and schools and leaders What did they want to see in a department and in a health department? And so that's really what we've been tirelessly working on is is building what they want, what our community wants and needs.
00:03:41
Speaker
Absolutely. That's great. Okay. Let's break this down a
Defining Public Health in Adams County
00:03:45
Speaker
little bit. Um, For people who are hearing public health, what is that exactly? Is that vaccines or is it the billboard on I-76 that's telling me I need a radon kit? Like what is public health?
00:03:59
Speaker
Kelly? Yeah, the definition of public health that I love the most is um it comes out of a national definition around ah public health is what we as a society do to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.
00:04:14
Speaker
And so public health can do a lot of different things. We can educate people at the individual level. So this could be ah diabetes self-management education classes,
00:04:25
Speaker
We can use ah individual level ah interventions such as vaccines that then provide ah both individual and population level protection for people as well.
00:04:39
Speaker
um And then we can also look at things like policy and systems and understand the broader context in which our health is. is informed by and looking at everything from our healthcare system, the access to different types of healthcare care in our community and the policies at the state, ah federal, city level that inform ah how health, um you know,
00:05:08
Speaker
how people are impacted by health. That could include things like built environment and city planning, for example. So public health can ah include the whole spectrum of interventions from the individual level all the way up to a population level.
00:05:23
Speaker
And the health department here at Adams County is really focused on on that whole spectrum, not just one piece of it. And Levon, what does that look like on ah at a grounds level? What does that look like? How are we, how is Adams County showing up for people?
00:05:39
Speaker
Well, the the opportunity that I had was amazing because I i didn't um have any education or real training in public health. And so when Kelly gave me this opportunity, i I had some learning to do. And so the definition that I like is from Cornell University of of Public Health, which is that public health exists to prevent disease and injury, um promote health, and prolong life.
00:06:04
Speaker
And so at the ground level, it really means that we're trying to prevent things from happening in people's lives so that they live um the lives that they want to live.
00:06:17
Speaker
So the the example is um you know upstream. We talk a lot about upstream, but you know what does that really mean? And you know the story is you know a kid falls into a river.
00:06:29
Speaker
that's That's tragic and and that could be an accident. But if two, three, four, five, 10 kids fall in a river, um at some point you don't want to be downstream trying to rescue the kids.
00:06:42
Speaker
You want to figure out like, why are the kids falling in the river and and how do we prevent that? Um, you so whether it's building a fence or creating policy or, or, or having somebody watch the river or whatever, um, So it's it it's a clever sort of story to to um give the example of that's that's what our department is about, is trying to prevent disease and injury. But in addition, as I mentioned, trying to promote life and then um help people live long, healthy, thriving lives.
00:07:15
Speaker
So our work is really about being involved for sure whenever we're asked to be involved, but also in those those really specific public health areas to make a difference in people's lives.
00:07:28
Speaker
love that. Prevention is key. All right. Well, let's talk a bit ah little bit about ACHD's vision to be community-led.
00:07:39
Speaker
Kelly, what does that mean?
Community-Led Health Vision
00:07:42
Speaker
I think community-led means that we are asking ah our community members at all levels you know, what is it that they want their health department to do?
00:07:56
Speaker
um and really assuring that that vision is co-created. And so we have tried to embed community input and, um, not just from organizational level, like our partners, but also from community residents,
00:08:14
Speaker
involving and embedding them in planning processes. So when we ah started developing our first strategic plan in 2023, we had community members involved in every step of that planning process.
00:08:30
Speaker
And to assure that we're continuously, not just, you know, every five years asking community members about our services and about ah their needs. we're We're doing that on a more continuous basis. And so um that could look differently year to year and project to project, but that might include focus groups. That might include surveys that go out.
00:08:54
Speaker
um or actual involvement and integration of community members into um you know the practices and advisory councils, advisory committees, things like that.
00:09:07
Speaker
Great. Awesome. Levon, what about community and connection, connection to resources, connection to each other? Can you speak a little bit more about that?
00:09:19
Speaker
Yeah, so, you know, part of what we have established, as Kelly mentioned, is um our community health improvement plan. And those three areas that were advised by community members every step of the way are access to care, economic mobility, and housing.
00:09:40
Speaker
And are our desire is to use that as as really a guide for every program and every team so that we know that that our goal is to try to connect people in all of those areas. Those are the areas that um really are the determinants of people's health.
00:10:01
Speaker
If people don't have... housing, if people don't have access to care, if they don't have the money that they need to to buy the food that they need or or pay for the other things, the the economic security, then then they're not thriving and they're therefore not contributing in the ways that they want to contribute financially.
00:10:21
Speaker
And they're um they're suffering. So our goal is to connect people to whatever whatever those needs are, those those social determinant needs.
00:10:31
Speaker
um And that that plays sort of a whimsical way in our department um by you know listening to people and and showing up for them, whether it's farmers markets, whether it's for young people in schools, um businesses,
00:10:49
Speaker
um But it also is just really practical in terms terms of the the dozens and dozens of programs that we offer and and in ways to try to serve people. And there's so many examples of of how ACHD is showing up in the community. So thanks for sharing those, especially like the farmers markets and and things like that. I think people can really relate to um having those needs and really wanting to know how to access those types of services. So thanks for for including those.
00:11:20
Speaker
Let's talk about...
'Ready, Set, Action' Theme Significance
00:11:21
Speaker
The theme for National Public Health Week, and it's Ready, Set, Action. I'd love to hear what that theme means to you in terms of Adams County Health Department, our vision, and our work in the community.
00:11:37
Speaker
um I think that we have demonstrated to be an organization of action, even just in the upstart of the department. It was, you know, we had to open in a very quick fashion. And um i think it's important for our community and our stakeholders to see that ah you know we have a role in collecting data and understanding health problems, um but that we're constantly trying to put that data and information into action.
00:12:08
Speaker
And we're constantly listening and gathering information from our community residents and translating that into actionable work. And really working to be strategic, work with the other county departments, work with our community-based organizations.
00:12:25
Speaker
And often we're we're kind of leading the development of that work. And we're not the only actor. These are, you know, hard, ah persistent community and societal problems that we're trying to address.
00:12:39
Speaker
um And there's no way one organization can be the be all end all and do all of that work themselves. And so it's important for us to really be helping to define what that problem is and um define, you know, how that problem might evolve over time. So that's our data and assessment function within the health department, but also that we're trying to convene All the different players work towards common goals and, and the community should see that in terms of progress being made and new services, new projects coming.
00:13:22
Speaker
So yeah, taking that next step, um not just defining, but, um or describing a problem, but really working towards common goals important to us.
00:13:33
Speaker
Absolutely. And Levon, what about you? were um We're a team of empathetic doers. We're not content just sitting on the sidelines and watching people suffer or people not having their needs met.
00:13:50
Speaker
And so um when when when you say the theme and when I think about the theme for this this year's um National Public Health Week, that's what I think about is We have over 200 people that are ready to take action.
00:14:04
Speaker
We're accessible, we're responsive, and and we're engaged in our community. And and unapologetically, um probably one of our our greatest strengths is also a weakness, but we'll take it, which is we have to sometimes tell people to slow down a little bit or or sort of guide them in the right direction. But the reality is is that's what Kelly and I want. We want people that are going to lead people um with integrity and with compassion and show up every day for the people that need us the most. And so we're really grateful.
00:14:35
Speaker
I think that's a fabulous way to end today. Thank you so much.
Engagement and Information Resources
00:14:40
Speaker
um For folks who want to learn more about Adams County Health Department and our programs, visit our website at www.adamscountyhealthdepartment.org or visit or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
00:14:58
Speaker
um We are ready, we are set, and we're taking action. We're looking forward to bringing you along. That's a wrap for this episode of All In Adams.
00:15:09
Speaker
Thank you for joining us as we explore the people, programs, and the policies that make Adams County a great place to live, work, and thrive. If you enjoyed the show, be sure to subscribe and share with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
00:15:22
Speaker
Have a topic you'd like us to cover? Let us know. We're all in for bringing you the stories that matter most. Until next time, take care of each other and stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and X. We're all in, Adams, and we're all in for you.