The Colorado Health Symposium: Recent Episodes
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The Colorado Health Symposium, formerly the Dorsey Hughes Symposium, is one of the leading national health policy conferences in the United States. The annual event has attracted cutting-edge thinkers in health care policy and reform efforts to share their ideas, debate policy, and interact with leaders from the health care industry, government, business, academia and the nonprofit sector.
Heather Robinette has a BS in communications, and is pursuing a master's degree in health services administration. She has worked in several hospitals in the Denver metro area to help implement electronic health records and is an inpatient clinical documentation trainer at University of Colorado Hospital. It doesn't take much to see that America is divided in its views regarding health care reform, health disparities and social determinates of health. It is a topic that deeply divides our nation's political parties. How do we bridge this divide and come together to begin the process of much needed change? The first...
Angie Wing is a BA candidate in scientific media design, with a minor in biology at the University of Colorado, Denver. She is passionate about psychology, medicine and design, and is interested in the connections between science and art. How do we engage and inform people on health issues? Ann Christiano, a professor at the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida, attempted to answer that question during today's plenary discussion, "The 'Me' Factor: Making Health the Default Choice." Christiano initiated her presentation talking about how her collaboration with the previous speaker, Elizabeth Carger, made her realize...
Cortney Babica has a BS in biology with minors in astrophysics and chemistry, and plans to apply for medical school in the fall. She works as a radiology assistant at Swedish Medical Center, and is training to become a patient care technician in the Progressive Care Unit. The theme of this year's symposium, "bridging the divide" has been energetically and positively referenced throughout each presentation, with a warm regard for embracing our disparities and taking steps in the right direction toward health equity. By recognizing, respecting and celebrating our differences, we become closer to achieving a common goal encircled around...
Ellie Allan is pursuing a doctorate of physical therapy at Regis University. She lives in Frisco, CO and is interested in global health care systems and the role of personal responsibility in healthy choices and preventable disease. "'Health' is an invitation without a party," said Chris Waugh, director and co-founder of the Food & Beverage practice for the design firm IDEO. And I'm thinking, "What?!?!?!" I thought health was the party. I run in circles for fun. I eat quinoa and drink chia seeds with a smile." But in a time when 22 percent of Coloradans are obese, achieving health...
Christine Tagliaferri Rael is a PhD candidate in health and behavioral science at the University of Colorado, Denver. She is interested in exploring ways to expand affordable care to low-income and hard to reach individuals living in rural Colorado. She teaches HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and STI prevention classes to incarcerated Colorado adults, as well as helping to provide free testing, and raising community awareness. Public health research is steadily transitioning toward a mixed-methods model. Though the connection between empirical research and Wes Moore's presentation highlighting the importance of education, expectations and advocacy for at-risk youth does not appear to have...
Editor's note: Throughout the Colorado Health Symposium, July 25-27, we provided a daily summary of news and insights through the Symposium Today blog posting. Quote of the day: "The fact that it's easier for a child to get a gun than health care is a fundamental problem." — Wes Moore, author of "The Other Wes Moore" Moore energizes Symposium crowd "You can't have an honest conversation about [national] debts and deficits unless you can have a conversation about health issues," said Wes Moore, author of the best-seller, "The Other Wes Moore" and Friday's keynote speaker. Moore's book examines many questions...
Kari Thomasgard has been a critical care nurse at Denver Health for over 5 years and is pursuing an MS in Family Practice at Regis University. She is passionate about working with underserved and disadvantaged populations, and hopes to provide more preventative and holistic care. Bright-eyed and bushy -tailed, Len Nichols, PhD, better known as "The Preacher," opened up the Symposium's second day with some extremely thought-provoking questions. Nichols, who is director for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University, focused on health disparities based on geographic location. He asked the audience, "Why don't we love our neighbors...
Laura Gerard is a program officer for Health Coverage at the Colorado Health Foundation. This session on the Colorado Health Benefit Exchange (COHBE) provided an overview of progress on Exchange implementation and explored different perspectives on how the Exchange can and should work to increase access to adequate and affordable health coverage for Coloradans. Session facilitator Dr. Len Nichols, director of George Mason University's Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics, introduced the panel with contextual remarks on how Colorado compares with the rest of the country. By passing legislation (Senate Bill 200 signed into law July 2011), Colorado is...
Hannah Newman has a BS in psychology and is pursuing a master’s degree in public health in environmental and occupational health at the Colorado School of Public Health. Her experience working as a crisis and suicide counselor in her home state of Louisiana inspired her to study public health and work to improve quality and access to health care. Dr. Michael O. Minor is best known as the Mississippi Delta preacher who banned fried chicken in his church. Believe it or not, that's not even his most amazing accomplishment. Minor is a faith-based health and wellness advocate who reaches communities...
Lauren Cook is senior director of social media and digital strategy at GroundFloor Media, a Denver-based communications agency. In her role, she advises clients across all industries on a variety online campaigns and strategies including online brand perception and promotion, social media crisis, digital technologies, and influencer relations. It's been proven that teams can solve complex problems much better than individuals can. There's examples of team success everywhere – just take a look at beehives, flocks of birds and schools of fish. While it took some time, the health care industry is slowly learning what nature has known all along...