2025 Impact Highlight
Eagle County, Mountain Region
Women’s Health Summit (Mujeres Saludables) addresses barriers to education, services in rural Colorado
There are few programs and events that specifically address topics of women’s health in rural Colorado. Rural women also have less access to women’s healthcare services, which are primarily centered in urban Colorado, along the Front Range.
Latina women face even more barriers to women’s healthcare, as they face additional obstacles, such as language, high levels of distrust of the medical system, and low levels of confidence in navigating the healthcare system. There is need for events and programs that provide education on women’s health topics to the Spanish-speaking population in Colorado.
Colorado State University Extension developed a Women’s Health Summit event – Mujeres Saludables – for the Spanish-speaking community in Eagle County, Colorado. This one-day event held in November addressed the following topics: women’s mental health; menopause; osteoporosis; pelvic floor; and nutrition, vitamins and supplements. The event was hosted in partnership with the Eagle Valley Community Foundation/MIRA bus. The event was free, with language interpretation and childcare provided.
The event had 64 participants who attended, and 35 completed surveys at the end of the day.
Reponses indicated that attendees ‘strongly agreed’ and ‘agreed’ that their level of knowledge increased for: mental health (94%); menopause (91%); osteoporosis (94%); nutrition, vitamins and supplements (97%) and pelvic floor (94%). In addition, 94% ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that the event gave them tools to feel more empowered in the healthcare setting, and ‘strongly agreed’ (74%) and ‘agreed’ (26%) that the event increased their comfort speaking with a provider about women’s health topics.
By providing rural Latina women education on a range of women’s health topics, CSU Extension is fulfilling its mission to extend and expand education to underserved populations.