New health clinic for children may reduce barriers to services for some Denver metro area residents
One Colorado community is working to address a healthcare desert- defined as an area where people have little to no access to healthcare services. A new clinic is being built in Westminster.
It's in what has become a growing community where Ana Martinez and her family have chosen to settle down for the last six years.
"That's what motivated us to be closer to here," said Martinez. "My husband, my daughter, my son and me."
She's living in one of the area's affordable housing complexes at Terrace Gardens.
"Housing that's affordable for folks in a community is a critical starting point but it's not the only thing. People need health care. They need dental. They need mental health services," said Drew O'Connor, Chief Operating Officer for Maiker Housing Partners.
For the last few years, Maiker Housing Partners, the public housing authority for Adams County, has been working on ways to expand access to critical services for people in the Westminster community.
Now, one of those ideas is coming to life, through a partnership with Kids First Health, to create a new healthcare clinic for children. The clinic will be housed in one of Maiker Housing Partner's affordable housing complexes at Alto Apartments at 3045 W 71st Ave.
"For us, it just makes sense to partner with great organizations like Kids First and make sure these services are available to them where they live," said O'Connor.
The goal is to help bridge some of the gaps in access to resources for people like Martinez in an area where O'Connor says there is already a lack of healthcare options.
"This is a healthcare desert, especially in pediatrics, the demographics of this community, there is a high free and reduced lunch rate for Westminster schools," said Whitney Gustin Connor, Executive Director for Kids First. "We've been here for many years in a very small clinic, about five blocks north of here, with just two exam rooms, only part-time mental health, and it is unable to meet the need right now."
Gustin Connor gave CBS Colorado a first look inside the clinic, complete with six exam rooms, a dedicated mental health counseling space, and space to help register families for Medicaid and CHIP.
"As a mother of two young kids, there are times when I need quick resources, and having to do lines or long wait times is really stressful for me," said Martinez, who will now be living within walking distance of the new clinic.
"In many of our communities, transportation is the largest barrier for our families to get to care, even the time it takes to take kiddo in for an appointment, and so to be in close proximity to housing and other local communities, it makes that easier," said Gustin Connor.
For people like Martinez, it is a welcomed resource to help families continue to thrive while supporting the needs of their children.
"When the babies are sick, moms don't know what to do quickly," said Martinez. "We're very grateful because it makes our community stronger, it makes it so we live in a place that's filled with opportunities and services for future generations."
There is no geographical barrier to which children can be served at the clinic, with the goal to double and possibly even triple the capacity of care they're able to provide to children who need it.
"With future sites, it'll be a similar co-location model, maybe with housing, maybe with other schools, but we always have an eye to reducing those barriers," said Gustin Connor.
Organizers say they plan to open the facility in January 2025.
