Development Officer

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

El Paso County Public Health developed an innovative solution to address the increasingly complex needs impacting our county and its ability to thrive. Resource navigation is a high-leverage, evidence-based strategy with the potential, when employed effectively, to significantly improve health outcomes for our highest-need populations. Health Coordinators can provide timely connections to health and community resources needed to successfully manage chronic diseases and a growing body of evidence demonstrates navigators can “improve health outcomes and decrease health care utilization and costs. (Menendez, Barragan, Kuo) EPCPH integrates a multi-sector approach utilizing resource navigation to meet the health needs of our community through the work of agency-based and community-embedded navigation programs. The health navigators engaged with our comprehensive care coordination programming understand the emergent needs within the communities in El Paso County, especially those where health disparities are the most apparent. An analysis of the impact of the multi-sector collaborative approach to resource navigation is underway to better understand both the outcomes and outputs of this approach. The goal is to provide evidence linking the work of the resource navigators to outcomes tied to the specific public health needs identified through the Community Health Assessments.