Caring for Colorado is a grantmaking foundation making good health and health care more accessible every day for people in Colorado. We believe that some of the solutions to health care issues are coming through the innovation, collaboration and community-based work of our grantees.  That is why we have provided seed money and funded these original projects that are working in a variety of ways to improve the health of vulnerable people in Colorado.

Spanish PeaksRegional Health Center, Adolescent health program for girls ages 11-14, Huerfano County, Colorado

"They went way out on a limb to fund a vision," said women's health Nurse Practitioner, Sandy Dolak, RN. "I was amazed at what could be done with the help of visionary funders." It is Dolak, of course, who engenders the praise of those in her community. She has lived in Huerfano County for eight years and in that time, has written grants, secured funding for and managed nearly $8.5 million in health care programs for the county.

She set out to tackle some of these statistics: Huerfano County had the state's highest teen birthrate in the early and middle part of this decade. There was a high teen drop out rate, and no student health centers in the county's two high schools or in nearby Las Animas County, where the pregnancy rate was the second highest in the state.

There were no wellness programs for women or women's health services for low-income women. It was the largest un-served area in the state for family planning services, and there continues to be a high rate of generational poverty in Huerfano County.

With CFC dollars and other grants, including funding from the state health department, Dolak first worked to open a women's health clinic, bringing health services to low income women of the county. This year, that clinic has seen five times as many women as Dolak and her staff set as a goal for patient visits.

Again with Caring for Colorado dollars, Dolak went to work creating a partnership between Spanish Peaks Regional Heath Center and Huerfano County Youth Services to create an adolescent health education program for girls ages 11-14. Since the inception of this program centered on healthy choices for girls and young women, Huerfano County has dropped to tenth in the state for teen pregnancy rates. The first girls to be in the program are now high school sophomores; Dolak says not one has become pregnant, and that even beyond the life of the grant, the girls have worked to keep their regular meetings going. The program is now working with girls as young as fifth and sixth grade. The students do everything from explore health careers and visit college campuses to attend camp-outs together and learn about teen health issues. Long after the grant ended, they are still working with a "computerized baby" purchased with grant funds to simulate the demands of infant care, learn refusal skills, and much more. "We feel we've made a difference in instilling life-long values which came from the Caring for Colorado grant," says Dolak.           

WHY WE FUNDED IT:

            Collaboration, Community Support, Outcome-Based, Innovation: The grant to establish a women's health clinic addressed a gap in health care in the county and provided an opportunity to combine foundation dollars with other state and private sources to create a new resource.

• The teen education program is a collaboration of the regional health center and the county youth services.
• This project and previous projects had significant community support, including from the medical community and the hospital, ensuring its success and sustainability.
• The program focuses on adolescent health with demonstrated outcomes, but the outcomes go beyond the stated goals in that the young women in the program have a variety of experiences that enhance their ability to grow, continue their education, and work for and choose a life they want.
• The education program is innovative; designed by people who live in and are invested in the community and who understand the community's needs.