Healthy Impact!

Denver, CO, 2004

Colorado's vulnerable populations have more than doubled in the last decade, and one quarter of all Hispanic women over the age of 55 have diabetes. In addition, the state has seen hate crimes increase each day, which also greatly affects those who are vulnerable. To help reduce health disparities, Rocky Mountain PBS, the Anti-Defamation League and the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care collaborated on Healthy Impact!—a two-year project seeking to identify and expose the link between mental and physical health care discrepancies within vulnerable populations in Colorado through dialogue and education.

Rocky Mountain PBS' partner for Healthy Impact! was the Anti-Defamation League, which has created a highly visible awareness campaign through the production of “Positive Impact!” The League's project included this booklet designed to support the health and welfare of society by denouncing hate messages and creating awareness of prejudice in the community. Healthy Impact! aimed to extend the message of the League's booklet to the community at large in an effort to break down the cultural barriers that impact physical and mental health issues facing these vulnerable populations.

Healthy Impact! promoted the "Positive Impact!" booklet online, developed a steering committee that used research from focus groups to develop plans to increase cultural understanding and reduce bias, with an emphasis on cultural misunderstandings that pose barriers to health care for underserved groups. Additional activities included on-air public service announcements, distribution of "Positive Impact!" through Ready To Learn/Grow workshops, press releases, and a final teleconference summit and on-air program presenting the results of the study.