Resource directories have historically been used by healthcare professionals and social workers to direct people to the help they need, according to the National Library of Medicine.
Now — after two years in the making — the local nonprofit West Mountain Regional Health Alliance has one for our region.
It highlights organizations in Pitkin, Garfield and Eagle counties that provide legal services, run animal shelters, serve domestic violence survivors and more.
Kaen Lapides is a Regional Health Connector who works with the health alliance.
She spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Regan Mertz about the new tri-county resource.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Regan Mertz: Do you know how long [it] took to put the resource directory together?
Kaen Lapides: I'm guessing it was most of those two years. It's immense. To put it in perspective, if you're a provider of any type, meaning a doctor, that is one of the harder things to have [immediately]: you have someone right in front of you, and if you can't connect them with a resource — whether that's an appointment or actually making a phone call — it is way less likely to happen.
Just looking at that resource directory the first day I walked in, I'm like, “This would have been gold for me to have — not having to try and feather out through 200 possible organizations and find them.” I think that's its place right now: getting those smaller organizations that are local, and probably more effective, with that institutional knowledge of what's local for folks, at least as a first step.
Mertz: Okay, gotcha. And what sort of local institutions would that be here in the Roaring Fork Valley?
Lapides: I think what you would expect for a lot of this stuff would be LiftUp, Harvest for Hunger, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities. Health — it runs a gamut from small organizations to the bigger. It has bigger organizations in there, but some, like the Clinica del Pueblo, and those kinds of organizations, [for] domestic violence and support, like Mountain Saint Alliance and Response.
There are also a lot of mental health resources, but again, ones I wouldn't have known about, aside from the obvious, [like] Hope Center. There's Smiling Goat Ranch. There's Wind Walkers.
Mertz: And this one's free. In what ways can people access it?
Lapides: Right now, it's a searchable PDF. It's digital. You can download that link on the website, and then once it's on your phone — which I think is key — and that's what I try and tell people. I think that's the benefit.
Mertz: Anybody can use it.
Lapides: Yeah.
Mertz: What are the limitations of these sorts of directories?
Lapides: This one didn't exist when I had started in Eagle County four years ago. So, when I saw [it], I'm like, “Wow.” I think more and more people are making their own on their website, but the all-inclusive thing, and having the ability to maintain it. Obviously that was a two-year process for someone, so why recreate [it]? That's the other thing, how can we collaborate this a little bit?
Mertz: Focusing the resource directory, specifically focusing on our tri-county area, I mean, that's huge. Garfield County goes all the way out to Utah. Well, maybe it's not that populated in some areas.
But then you have Pitkin County, sort of jumping around, Eagle County jumping around. How do you even consolidate that into a resource directory like this?
Lapides: That's the challenge for everyone. I mean, there are so many amazing organizations and nonprofits in that area. How do we get folks to communicate, be able to communicate, and be a more unified front to advocate for resources and a plan?
Mertz: Have you heard of any success stories, or of people using this resource directory?
Lapides: We do have 100 hard copies coming up, but there are collection points, like laundries or libraries, that can have utility for folks to really be able to use, especially I think libraries where the librarian can help folks.
I think the main thing that I like about it is that it's not just for what we call physicians themselves — anybody who cares about somebody can find resources in there.
When you start to access it, you can translate, the whole thing is translatable into Spanish. So, I think that's important, especially in the sense that I think you know within families, sometimes different folks are helping other folks out. So, hopefully translatable in any language in the future, but right now it's Spanish.
Mertz: It's been really great speaking with you. I really appreciate you coming in.
Lapides: Thank you, Regan. It's also a pleasure to be here and spread the word about some health access and equity issues in our counties.
Support for this Nonprofit Spotlight series comes from the Aspen Community Foundation.
