Chaffee County Public Health, in coordination with four fellow sponsors, took a major step in advancing county resident’s access to health resources late last week, by launching a new health and wellness resource website; www.chaffeeresources.com. The idea originated with the Chaffee County Health Coalition, a local organization dedicated to improving accemss to health and wellness services.
The goal, says Regional Health Connector Mike Orrill, is “to make it easier for Chaffee County residents to connect with the health and wellness services they need to thrive.”
Five concerned community entities have come together to fund and create this one-click resource. Chaffee County Public Health, was joined by Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center, Sol Vista Health, Chaffee County Dept. of Human Services and the Chaffee County Commissioners.
“One of the challenges in most rural communities is access to information about the resources that are already available,” said Director of Chaffee County Public Health and Environment Andrea Carlstrom. “Even in a small community like ours, people find it difficult to know what the health and wellness services are and how to access them.
“We find a major component of improving health equity is strengthening the information pipeline (between) providers and community members,” She added.
Orrill stressed that the website, although launched, will continue as a work in progress. “We’re adding new health and wellness resources almost every day …everything from medical and mental health services to nutrition, addiction, spirituality, services for young people and parents …to resources for our LGBTQ and senior populations.”
The website appears easy to use. The database is arranged to be searched by category or keyword, which brings up a listing of the resources that match a request, along with descriptions of the services and contact information. The website contains an entire section of educational links – videos, essays and articles – designed to allow self-education. The site will accept community suggestions for resource additions (subject to administrator approval).
The site, was designed by VistaWorks, a Buena Vista-based web design company. It loads smoothly to smart phones and other mobile devices and includes a community event calendar.
One of the main messages from the team that oversaw the creation of www.chaffeeresources.com is that to be of the most help to the most people, they encourage every agency, Those organizations should go to the site and click on the “Register a New Resource” tab and follow the directions. It should take about 10 minutes to complete.
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