When Aspen lost its only public health nurse in 1969, a group of concerned citizens mobilized in collective outcry. Within two years, the Aspen Valley Visiting Nurses Association, or AVVNA, formed as a nonprofit.
The first clinic, on Main and Spring streets, was a humble one, with only three nurses. They focused their care mostly on home visits for seniors, expectant mothers, children with disabilities and others who otherwise experienced difficulties accessing health care.
Just five years after the 1973 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that ruled state bans on abortion are unconstitutional, AVVNA — later Community Health Services, Inc., in the early 1980s — was working as a Title X Family Planning Clinic in Pitkin County to help ensure anyone, regardless of background or income, had access to contraceptives and reproductive health services.
At the time, CHS was the only clinic in the county providing such services, particularly confidential HIV and STD testing, explained Logan Hood, CHS associate director.
“That we were really doing that was ground-breaking in the sense of the early ’70s, in terms of talking STD treatment and testing at a time when HIV was just coming out,” she said. “And access to birth control for women when a lot of that was still very taboo.”
In some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
“We were groundbreaking in this work — that we still do today,” she said.
And she anticipates that they’ll continue offering family planning and women’s preventive health care, in addition to its myriad other services, for long into the future.
“We have a reputation of just meeting someone where they are. There’s no other agenda but nonjudgmental care. Especially when it comes to women’s health and family planning — [instead of] navigating it alone, which sometimes people are doing,” Hood said.
But when the COVID-19 pandemic burst through the Aspen bubble, as it were, CHS again pivoted to lean into a moment of need in history.
“We have decades of experience protecting the health of our community, especially around disease containment, disease prevention. We were originally the public health department until a few years ago when Pitkin County Public Health and Community Health services split off in a way,” Hood said.
After Pitkin County created a dedicated public health department in 2017, CHS remained the “clinical arm … then really worked in partnership with public health locally to really protect and improve the health of the community and what those goals are,” she continued.
CHS nurse Maggie Spence gives David Swift his second COVID-19 vaccine dose on April 30 in the Pitkin County Health and Human Services Building.
During the era of COVID-19, the most prominent, overarching public health goal became clear: administering as many vaccines as possible to eligible Pitkin County residents. Already including travel vaccines and flu shots in its “menu” of services, as Hood put it, CHS was ready and able to help.
Dr. Kim Levin, Pitkin County medical officer and emergency physician who also serves on the CHS board of directors, points to the entity’s history as one of the chief reasons for its ability to pivot so effectively during the pandemic.
“The history of CHS is truly rooted in the history of public health in Pitkin County. CHS has played a critical role in the pandemic and has collaborated closely with Pitkin County Public Health, AVH and [many community partners],” she said in a statement. “Interestingly, CHS has historically been the clinical arm of public health, providing on-site medical services for the underserved, as well as been the immunization resource for the community — in addition to many other services including WIC Nutrition, cancer prevention, a prenatal program and more. CHS is now tackling the enormous job of providing COVID-19 vaccinations.”
Celebrating its 50th anniversary — complete with birthday hats, cupcakes and COVID-19 vaccines during an April 30 clinic in the Pitkin County Health and Human Services building — Hood noted that in planning for the next half century, CHS leadership expects having to answer the call of future widespread crises, including other pandemics.
CHS staff line up, donning full birthday celebration accessories, during a COVID-19 vaccine clinic that also commemorated the nonprofit’s 50th anniversary since its 1971 inception.
“We definitely are very proud to serve and are honored to be part of the COVID-19 response; we’ve been working in partnership with the hospital and Pitkin County Health to be able to do those clinics,” she said. “I think we do face a future of maybe more pandemics. I think as we’ve learned through all of this COVID response, I think we’re having to really prepare ourselves for maybe more of that.”
Still, the organization will never forget its roots, she said. And with Pitkin County’s health insurance premiums among the most expensive in the country — well above the 95th percentile — despite being one of the healthiest counties with one of the lowest mortality rates, Hood doesn’t anticipate the need for providing basic health care services to lower-income residents dwindling anytime soon. Neither does CHS Executive Director Liz Stark.
“For many, accessing CHS is their entry into the health care system and in some cases, the only place people receive care. CHS fills the gaps and offers personalized, affordable, quality care in a safe environment,” Stark said in a statement. “We believe all community members should have access to affordable preventive health services.”
For her part, Hood said that while progress has been made at the national legislative level, there is still much to be done before the cost of health care isn’t a factor — and sometimes a debilitating one — in people’s medical options.
“I think there has been some groundwork, but we have a long way to go,” she said.
It wasn’t until the Affordable Care Act passed Congress and became law in 2010, for instance, that CHS as a nonprofit was even able to logistically accept insurance, including Medicaid.
“It made clinics like ours able to enter into that massive system,” she said. “We were able to offer that just not that long ago. It was very difficult because we were a nonprofit, but I think that did offer another option for folks.”
While payments made through private insurance companies comprise a relatively small percentage of CHS revenue to help offset the cost of providing services to those uninsured or underinsured, the organization still relies heavily on local philanthropy, Hood continued.
“You could have no insurance, and that shouldn’t determine whether you have access to health or not,” she said.
And to the roughly 60% of Pitkin County workers who actually live downvalley, Hood emphasized that having access to health care upvalley allows them to schedule receiving care around their workday. When it comes to more universal needs, like a flu vaccine, CHS even works with larger employers to make sure staff receives services without having to go out of their way.
“We actually do a lot of partnerships with hotels, for example, where we will come and vaccinate — say it’s flu season, we’ll come and vaccinate their entire staff. We go to them. We want to provide the opportunity for people to have a healthy, operational [season],” she said.
Moving forward, CHS anticipates expanding its services even more, beyond planning for the next pandemic, should one occur.
“We’ve definitely evolved to consider this integrative health care — where it’s not just about prenatal care or getting your birth control, but maybe the whole person and all the other social determinants of health: housing, food security, mental health,” Hood said. “They really do all work in tandem and affect human health. I see that more than ever being the way we can respond and be stronger together … so we can keep Aspen open and keep people with jobs and have a healthy backyard.”
"later" - Google News
May 09, 2021 at 04:00PM
https://ift.tt/3vXFfsh
Half a century later, Community Health Services here for present and future needs - Aspen Daily News
"later" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KR2wq4
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Half a century later, Community Health Services here for present and future needs - Aspen Daily News"
Post a Comment