Community-Focused Health Initiative

Children's Hospital Colorado's Community-Focused Health Initiative works alongside community members and care providers to analyze approaches to clinical care, bridge gaps in access and improve outcomes for the kids and families who need us most. Informed by the lived experiences of community members and patients, this group works to reduce health disparities, and prevent adverse patient experiences and poor health outcomes.   

The initiative creates an environment to collectively examine patterns that have negatively impacted underserved families in our community through multifaceted programming including peer groups, mentorship programs, family advisory groups, advocacy groups and culturally responsive communication simulations.   

This work is built on the legacy of Jeannie Dixon, who exemplifies the goals and values of this program and whose foundational efforts made this possible.  

The pillars of our mission   

We strive to improve outcomes for families in three primary areas, highlighted below. Read on to learn more about our pillars and get examples of how we improve healthcare in and for our community. 

About our simulations

Our practice-based simulations give healthcare professionals access to gold-standard teaching and learning. Through these experiences, learners gain hands-on practice with interprofessional care teams in a range of situations.  

Each session lasts five hours and includes a preassessment, a lecture on key topics and hands-on practice with the help of actors who help us bring real scenarios to life. A post-assessment helps our participants measure their progress.  

The simulations prepare providers, advanced practice providers and community members to recognize and address health disparities by understanding how identity, unconscious associations and social drivers of health impact patient-provider relationships. By engaging participants in active, practice-based simulations, we are creating a future where empathy, adaptive communication and knowledge lead to more culturally responsive care.   

The objectives of these simulations are to:  

• Address gaps in knowledge of culturally responsive communication and care    
• Encourage collaborative care teams in care settings to improve patient experience    
• Incorporate multiple care delivery modalities (e.g. telehealth, home visitation) to eliminate barriers to care for patients and families    

If you're interested in participating in an upcoming simulation training, please email cfhi@childrenscolorado.org. 

Mentorship aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality rates  

In Colorado, the mortality (death) rate for Black infants is more than twice that of white infants. Institutional and structural barriers to healthcare access are large contributing factors to this health disparity, which contributes to the stress, social isolation and heightened mortality rates Black families experience.   

Families from all underserved communities — including rural families, Black and Latinx families, and more — often feel stressed, isolated, anxious and depressed as a result of navigating the healthcare system. These factors contribute to the high rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality, especially among the Black population. To help address these feelings, we work with our partners and the broader community to learn what these families need to feel more connected to healthcare resources.  

Within this outreach, we're undertaking the following efforts:  

• Creating the Kindred Mamas Mentorship Program, which pairs new Black parents with those who have walked a similar path. Kindred Mamas mentors help their mentees manage life during pregnancy and after giving birth, navigate hospital resources, learn coping strategies, transition home with their baby and more.  
• Holding dinner talks, similar to focus groups, with partners in the community to learn how we can help improve health for underserved families  
• Developing family advisory councils to advise Children's Colorado about lived experiences and how the hospital can make improvements  
• Participating in the Community Action Network, a collaboration of community organizations, to increase healthy pregnancies and full-term births  

To improve the healthcare experience for families from minoritized communities, we are working to improve access to scheduling and support for community members through our Child Health Clinic, Young Mothers Clinic and the Black Mamas Circle.  

Advocacy efforts

One of the first steps in addressing the issues facing underserved families is education. At Children's Colorado, we're dedicated to informing our team members and community members in multiple ways:  

• Developing a definition and framework for health equity for Children's Colorado and applying principles to help families achieve their highest level of health  
• Developing policies, practices and an organizational culture that recognizes and reduces bias in healthcare  
• Creating resources that connect Black parents and babies to health services and education, lessening the likelihood of premature births and reducing Black infant mortality  
• Educating our providers and community providers based on the findings of our focus groups  

Creating policy and system changes   

We know that social drivers of health have a much greater impact on health than clinical care. This means we can't improve health outcomes simply by changing how we provide care within our walls. We need to advocate for policy changes in our organization and through the state legislature that improve health equity. This will help families in our care and across our state for generations to come.  

We're supporting policy changes in the following ways:  

• Advocating for policies that ensure robust public health insurance coverage during pregnancy and after birth and improve access to care  
• Advancing policies inside and outside our organization that help healthcare workers provide culturally and linguistically responsive care  
• Educating team members about the impact of policies on health outcomes