Learn about the latest Health Links® happenings and news below. Have a story to share? Get in touch.
If you offer your employees access to digital mental health applications, how do you know if the apps are actually helping them? Many employers understand their workforce’s need for mental health support. Nearly 60% of adults in the U.S. report having been concerned for either their own mental health or that of family and friends, increasing 9% since April of 20201. Poor employee mental health is associated with a $1 trillion annual global cost in productivity2.
Women's health is not just a women's issue. It's a societal issue that affects local communities and the economy. While women have made major headway towards equality, many areas of their lives require additional support to be made truly equal to their male counterparts. One of those areas is in the workplace.
David Shapiro shares a few suggestions on how to treat essential workers this holiday season.
ColoradoSPH study seeks to lead a community science in the San Luis Valley by working with pregnant participants to collect water, soil, and urine samples throughout the pregnancy and after delivery, as well as nail samples from newborns, to better characterize how heavy metal exposure changes over time and how maternal exposure impacts newborns.
Women's health is not just a women's issue. It's a societal issue that affects local communities and the economy. While women have made major headways towards equality, there are still many areas of their lives that require support to truly be equal to their male counterparts. One of those areas is in the workplace.
David Shapiro shares a few suggestions on how to treat essential workers this holiday season.
Sometimes the first step in becoming a recovery friendly workplace is the hardest one. Business owners often do not know where to start. On October 6, in Routt County, Colorado, six local businesses took that first step.
Researchers Courtney Welton-Mitchell, PhD, and Natalie Schwatka, PhD, from the Center for Health, Work & Environment at ColoradoSPH have developed, tested and launched a new training manual to help school districts enhance their emergency preparedness. The training emphasizes an integrated approach to support teacher and staff mental and physical health.
So often the burden of occupational hazards is reported in numbers – number of illnesses, number of injuries, number of incidents. Carol Brown reflects on the presentations at this year's WestON Annual Meeting which focused on the stories of the people behind the numbers.
Faculty members are traveling to Bologna, Italy, this week to attend the Collegium Ramazzini 2023 Conference, hosted by the international scientific academy comprised of physicians and scientists from 35 countries.
Health Links has partnered with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to launch CO-CARES, a new initiative to support healthcare and public health workers’ pandemic recovery.
The Center for Health, Work & Environment hosted its annual partner awards ceremony to honor the commitment and achievements of its key partners.
Two researchers from the Center for Health, Work, and Environment at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus recently completed a two-year research project on emergency preparedness plans and drills in schools.
Prolonged heat waves and the sweltering summer days that accompany climate change can be hazardous for human health, leading to conditions such as heat stroke and even causing permanent organ damage or death if not treated quickly.
Researchers from the Center for Health, Work & Environment are exploring the effects of climate change and heat exposure on agricultural workers in rural Jalisco, Mexico.
Each year, Health Links celebrates Colorado employers committed to workplace health, safety, and well-being. This year’s in-person event aptly honored the award winners and finalists for their achievements in the workplace while providing attendees the opportunity to network and gain inspiration from other employers.
ColoradoSPH is preparing to play a lead role in investigating and responding to the rapidly intensifying effects of global climate change. Starting in Fall 2024, the school is launching the nation’s first PhD program that focuses specifically on climate change and its multiple impacts on people’s health and the communities where they live.
Health Links has been a trusted advisor helping organizations assess and advance Total Worker Health for over a decade. A crucial component of the program is the Healthy Workplace Assessment which as been recently updated. The enhancements reflect the emerging issues facing workplaces today and a broadened understanding of the worker experience.
Individuals living in communities hobbled by poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to resources like housing and healthcare suffer the effects of climate change disproportionately. ColoradoSPH and community partners in the San Luis Valley and the neighborhoods of West Denver are out to change that with a NIH-funded project that is the product of years of relationship building between the school and these communities.
Courtney Welton-Mitchell and Natalie Schwatka from the Center for Health, Work & Environment recently completed a two-year research project of psychological preparedness training for the public-school workforce, complimenting current emergency preparedness plans and drills.
It’s not often you meet a person who likes change. For most of us, change is unsettling, disruptive, unpredictable. Cortney Cuff, senior program manager for training and community, thrives in it. It is her passion for new ideas and bringing people together that make her an essential member of a research to practice public health center.
One of the many ways we work to protect workers is through educating and training future leaders in occupational safety and health. As part of our Student Spotlight series highlighting our trainees, we interviewed Raissa Chunko, a Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center trainee earning a Master's in Health Physics from Colorado State University.
The Center for Health, Work & Environment at ColoradoSPH will soon be training researchers to address the impact of climate change on the health of workers. It’s newly established training program for doctoral students, Targeted Research Training Program in Climate and Worker Safety and Health, is the first of its kind in the United States.
A team from the Center for Health, Work & Environment will host 200 Mexican Institute of Social Security occupational health and safety professionals in Puebla, Mexico for a two-week training in Total Worker Health.
Colorado School of Public Health research team, including Miranda Dally and Megan Cherewick, partner with the International Labour Organization’s Vision Zero Fund to study the effects of climate change in Vietnamese agricultural workers.
With wildfire season upon us, cities across the United States are being urged by health officials to stay inside, but even indoor air can be hazardous. “There are two general ways to decrease your exposure to wildfire smoke – breathe less or breathe cleaner air." Mike Van Dyke, PhD, gives tips on how to keep your indoor air clean when under an air quality alert.
In our Alumni Spotlight series highlighting our graduated MAP ERC trainees, we interviewed Janalee McKnight, an ergonomics and safety graduate working as the Senior Manager, Global Health and Safety Training Programs at VF Corporation.
Now in its tenth year, the MAP ERC Interdisciplinary Course follows a field consultation format allowing students to develop specific occupational health and safety assessment, leadership, and communication skills. We asked our current trainees about the impact this course has had on their educational journey.
While doing a preliminary assessment for environmental health hazards for the agriculture workforce in Southern Colorado, researcher Kathy James was redirected. Her community partners sounded an alarm for a behavioral health crisis in the Ag community.
One of the many ways we work to protect workers is through educating and training future leaders in occupational safety and health. As part of our Student Spotlight series highlighting our trainees, we interviewed Phillip Stepherson, a Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center trainee earning a Master's in Industrial Hygiene from Colorado State University.
The study, led by Kathy James, ColoradoSPH associate professor, focuses on arsenic in private drinking wells in San Luis Valley groundwater, which she says has been gradually increasing in drinking wells over the past 50 years.
Centers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus are partnering with state leaders and employers to help employees in recovery through the Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative.
Researchers from the ColoradoSPH received a $3 million research grant from the NIH. The R01 grant will assess Guatemalan womens’ exposure to air pollution, heat, and kidney toxins in both work and non-work settings.
Oil and gas extraction workers face many risk factors for workplace substance use. These include insecure employment, long work hours, fatigue, physically demanding work conditions and environment. While hosting and attending the NORA Oil & Gas Extraction Council 2023 Spring Health and Safety Summit, Cortney Cuff summarizes two days of impactful presentations.
If you are looking for Stephen Brindley, MS, the lab might be the only place you find him sitting. 15,900 steps a day. 111,400 steps a week. 200 miles a month. Brindley is on the move. Working as a senior professional research assistant, Brindley is a sought after “lab guy.”
Our center released the Total Worker Health Professional Program six months ago and have since wondered, what has been the impact of this course? How are our learners using their knowledge to create change in the workplace?
With a recent series of methamphetamine contamination cases at Colorado public libraries making the news nationally, Colorado School of Public Health expert Mike Van Dyke provides context on the public health risk.
The Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center and the Environmental and Occupational Health Department of the Colorado School of Public Health hosted its 14th Annual Research Day Symposium. What are we taking away from that event? Hope.
The newly-established Mountain West Alliance for Community Engagement-Climate and Health (ACE-CH) Hub, led by ColoradoSPH researchers, has been awarded $600,000 from the National Institutes of Health to identify evidence-based and community-driven action in the face of the climate crisis.
While on rotations as a medical resident at National Jewish Health, Maggie Cook-Shimanek was instantly attracted to a model of clinical care dedicated to the workforce. Read more about her journey to working an occupational health physician working as the medical director for the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.
“We heard from stakeholders representing workforces and employers across the state that supporting employees in recovery is a top priority,” said Lili Tenney, DrPH, director of outreach and programs at CHWE. “Our goal is to build capacity and positive change led by the voice of Colorado businesses and workers.”
One of the many ways we work to protect workers is through educating and training future leaders in occupational safety and health. As part of our Student Spotlight series highlighting our trainees, we interviewed Colton Castro, a Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center trainee earning a Master's in Environmental Health with a specialization in Industrial Hygiene from Colorado State University.
Lili Tenney, DrPH, Assistant Professor and Director of Outreach and Programs at our center, discusses the rise in Colorado workplace fatalities, mental health struggles, and opioid abuse in the Denver Business Journal.
As a senior professional research assistant and doctorate in public health candidate at the Colorado School of Public Health, Macaluso explores the relationships between issues such as drought and heavy metals exposure in her research projects in the San Luis Valley of Southern Colorado.
For many companies, this December will be the first time since 2019 that employees will come together for an in-person holiday party. More employees may be dealing with alcohol addiction than in years past. Employers should be mindful of employees who are in recovery or trying to cut back on their alcohol consumption.
Increasingly hotter temperatures indoors and out can also amplify existing injuries and illnesses for workers with chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease and kidney disease. While attending and presenting at the 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, David Shapiro summarizes a session on the climate crisis and its impacts on outdoor workers.
There is a mental health epidemic going on in the construction industry. People working in construction are nearly 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. While attending and presenting at the 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, David Shapiro summarizes a session on suicide in the construction industry.
One of the many ways we work to protect workers is through educating and training future leaders in occupational safety and health. As part of our Student Spotlight series highlighting our trainees, we interviewed Julia Beckel, MS, a Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center trainee earning a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University.
While attending and presenting at the 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, David Shapiro summarizes a session on power at work and its intersection with the TWH approach.
Our Center recently hosted 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, in Bethesda, MD at the NIH Campus. The four-day conference hosted students, working professionals, researchers, and academics from diverse backgrounds and workplaces, united in their pursuit of improving health, safety and well-being for the global workforce.
While attending and presenting at the 3rd International Symposium to Advance Total Worker Health®, David Shapiro summarizes the future of TWH training programs and the distinctions between each which help serve different trainees and industries.