Since Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley’s founding in 1995, the organization has worked with 93 families in building 87 homes. (Daily file photo)
Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley has witnessed the transformative power of housing for more than 25 years. To continue to expand its mission to help families thrive in Eagle County, Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley is expanding its programming to better provide services for families in the community.
Beatriz Bustamante, a longtime local connector and liaison, has joined Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley as Family Services coordinator. The Colorado Health Foundation was imperative in the creation of this new position, tying in housing and health equity for the betterment of the community.
Over the last year, Coloradans have been challenged like never before. This global pandemic turned our world upside down, creating economic distress and a public health crisis that forced us all to recalibrate our daily lives. Coloradans who live without access to critical services due to race and socioeconomic status have been especially hard hit.
In the early days of the pandemic, businesses were temporarily shuttered and some closed permanently. Many people found themselves out of work, unable to pay rent and mortgages, or feed their families. Calls tripled to 211, Coloradoâs help line â illustrating the immense need of so many Coloradans. In the face of these unprecedented challenges, we knew immediately that we had to come together to help support our communities.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News
Esther Lucero holds a picture of her late wife Cathy in Denver’s Cheeseman Park on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. The two were married in the park three years ago.
On one of her many days in the hospital in 2017, Cathy asked her partner not to tell the nursing staff they were married. She’d been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, and Cathy feared the care she got would suffer if the staff knew she was a lesbian.
“She says, ‘Don t tell the nurses that we re married,’” said Cathy’s wife, Esther Lucero. “And I said, ‘Why?’ And she says, ‘Because they re treating you differently. They re treating me differently.’”
Colorado was in poor shape to handle 2020’s confluence of crises. This year’s heightened mental health needs have run headlong into a complex, ever-shifting constellation of decades-old challenges: the state’s higher-than-average prevalence of high-risk mental health conditions; a backlog of demand caused by a thicket of red tape among state agencies and private insurers; a behavioral health workforce shortage compounded by low rates of psychiatrists and psychologists who accept public or private insurance;
cultural stigma; and slow public and political recognition that mental health is as important as physical health.
For communities of color that have a history of trauma and lack of access to health care, the need has been especially acute.
Mountain Recreation
The goal of Mountain Recreation is not simply to get back to normal, the goal is to be better. (Special to the Daily)
This past year may be remembered as the year of COVID-19, but I prefer to see it as the year our community came together like never before to push our valley forward. And I am proud to say that Mountain Recreation, and its staff, played an instrumental role as a community health leader.
We will continue to operate our facilities and programs to fulfill our mission. We will keep our eyes on the horizon that awaits us as we seek to convert recreation centers into community centers. And, of course, there will be some things we simply cannot forecast. Together, we will continue to take risks, generate amazing ideas, listen to each other, make mistakes, connect with each other and the community, and move forward… with collective purpose.