El Paso County Public Health (EPCPH) serves El Paso County with a total population of approximately 720,00 which includes the community of Colorado Springs, CO with a population of over 400,000. The health inequities our community faces have been magnified due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time for EPCPH to invest in the strategies, interventions, and services that will advance health equity and lower systemic barriers which have put certain population groups at higher risk for COVID-19. Analysis of data via the following sources: Colorado Department of Local Affairs estimates, American Community Survey, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, El Paso County Public Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Community Inclusion in Colorado maps, COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index, and HMA Behavioral Health Report August 2020, has provided insight to the populations who have been disproportionately affected by the burden of COVID-19. Racial and ethnic minority groups will be targeted through strategic recovery efforts, along with the populations of the incarcerated, homeless, those living with substance use disorders, and the disabled population who have experienced barriers to receive COVID-19 resources and wrap-around services. EPCPH commits to employing Community Navigators to be the boots on the ground working with targeted populations to provide coordinated care and ensure education, outreach, ongoing efforts of vaccine coordination, quarantine and isolation options, and preventative care and disease management among populations that are underserved and at higher risk for COVID-19. Furthermore, EPCPH envisions increasing department infrastructure to establish a proactive response to health inequities. EPCPH will establish a Health Equity office to do the work necessary to educate, train, and drive our agency?s strategic vision towards equitable health for all. COVID-19 has had detrimental effects on the disproportionally represented
populations within Colorado Springs and addressing the barriers to health and fostering COVID-19 recovery is an agency priority. EPCPH will also expand the collection and reporting of data by employing technology consultants to assure adequate resources for data infrastructure and workforce to ensure alignment with data modernization. The implementation of a technology platform to provide streamlined wrap-around services will build on plans for collecting and reporting timely, complete, representative, and relevant data on testing, incident rates, vaccination, and severe outcomes by detailed race and ethnicity categories, taking into account age and sex differences. EPCPH will enhance collaborative partnerships to expand the collection of data and wrap-around services for those populations most at risk for COVID-19 and health inequities. A Public Health Planner will be hired to be the external facing EPCPH staff member who can devote a significant portion of their time to partnership cultivation and lead the Health Collaborative Community to set the priority areas for the upcoming Community Health Improvement Plan.
