BY FREDA MIKLIN
STAFF WRITER
On January 1, the Arapahoe County Public Health Department (ACPH) officially opened for business. It will take the place of the Tri-County Health Department for Arapahoe County Residents. Tri-County was forced to cease operations when two of the three counties it served, Douglas and Adams, voted to cancel their membership.
At its January 18 meeting, the Arapahoe County Foundational Board of Health (BOH) made official its selection of Jennifer Ludwig as the ACPH public health director and Dr. Christopher Urbina as its chief medical officer.
BOH members are Nancy Sharpe, Chair, Shawn Davis, Vice Chair, Nancy Jackson, Dr. Heather Signorelli, and Bebe Kleinman, members.
The board meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at 3:00 p.m. at the Arapahoe County Administration Building at 5334 S. Prince Street in Littleton.
ACPH is operating and offering its services at two locations in Aurora, one in Englewood, and one in Greenwood Village. The list of services available at each location can be found at https://arapahoegov.com/2313/Building-Locations-Services.
On January 18, Ludwig reported to BOH that ACPH had filled 166 out of 183 staff positions to date. She also reported that 23 grants had been awarded to ACPH thus far with a total value of more than $12 million, including over $5 million from the state health department for programs including Women and Infant Care (WIC), Title V Maternal and Child Health, Emergency Preparedness and Response, and Environmental Health Delegated Programs. Over $4 million of the total came from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mostly for Epidemiology and Laboratory Support Capacity.
At its February 15 meeting, BOH received a Communicable Disease Update report which noted that all COVID-19 community testing sites funded by the state health department were closed on January 15th. ACPH is distributing rapid at-home testing kits to community partners across Arapahoe County and considering setting up small-scale testing centers to provide equitable access across the county. As of February 1, “Arapahoe County is in sustained decline as it relates to current illness,” and, “There are no active COVID-19 outbreaks” in the county.”
On February 15, the BOH was presented a detailed power point on ACPH plans to conduct an ongoing program of Community Health Assessment and Planning to “increase availability and quality of public health services and ultimately improve health outcomes” via “a strategic plan for the entire community whereby local public health system partners collectively address priority areas.” This program, already in the planning stages, will gather data throughout 2023, then launch the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) in 2024. CHIP will continue for five years, with ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of its performance, with countywide community outreach and engagement being used to determine the most important and impactful issues in public health.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com