Safer At Home Ushers in New Month

According to the state public health officials, Colorado has been doing a great job following the Stay-at-Home order. However, the virus is still present in Colorado and can re-surge at any time. Everyone needs to do their part for themselves, their loved ones, and our community.

“We have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to protect our state and our community,” states the public health website. Right now, Colorado is in Level 2: Safer at Home. While residents are no longer ordered to stay home, they are strongly advised to stay at home. Critical businesses are open and non-critical businesses are operating with restrictions.

People should be prepared for state and local public health orders to be extended, amended, or changed as needed to protect public health. This means things may move between the different levels during this pandemic. According to an email distributed by Senator Kerry Donovan, “Lake County will follow the state’s guidelines for safer-at-home, matching suit with the benchmark dates set by the state.”

Solvista Leads The Way in May

May is Mental Health Month! And in some ways, it could come soon enough. It can be refreshing to turn the calendar page to a new month and one that generally means an uptick in temperatures in Leadville. It’s been a rough couple of months but there are sunny days ahead and for the times when you’re not so sunny, Solvista Health has done a great job in seamlessly transitioning to online support and services during this safer-at-home, social distancing times. It’s great to see solid leadership with a plan-in-place at times like these, so in honor of Mental Health Month, Leadville Today brings readers Your Tools2Thrive!

By Gwen Ferguson, Public Information Coordinator Solvista Health

While 1 in 5 people will experience a mental illness during their lifetime, everyone faces challenges in life that can impact their mental health. We are all experiencing various stressors and change during the COVID-19 pandemic. The good news is there are practical tools that everyone can use to improve their mental health and increase resiliency. There are also ways that everyone can be supportive of friends, family, and co-workers who are struggling with life’s challenges or their mental health.

Solvista Health is highlighting #Tools2Thrive during Mental Health Month. Tools to thrive are things individuals can do daily to prioritize their mental health, build resiliency in the face of trauma and obstacles, support those who are struggling and work towards a path of recovery.

Mental Health Minute

This week’s video is longer than a minute but worth it!  Julie takes you through a yoga flow that will help you relax and take a few minutes out to focus on movement.  These behavioral health tips will be especially helpful now while people being asked to practice physically distancing at home

Follow our Solvista Health Facebook Page, to see posts throughout May offering tools to thrive. One of the easiest tools anyone can use is taking a mental health screen at, Solvista Health Free Screening when they need answers. It’s a quick, free, and private way for people to assess their mental health and recognize signs of problems.

Another great way to develop #Tools2Thrive is by joining one of our Free Virtual Support Groups via Zoom. The groups are open to anyone in the community and have a range of topics including: Parenting During COVID-19; Physical Activity and Wellness; Substance Abuse and Recovery; Music; Grief Recovery; Cooking; Homework Help for Students; and more. To get more information or to join a group, call us at 719-275-2351. For each of us, the tools we use to keep us mentally healthy will be unique.

But, Solvista Health wants everyone to know that mental illnesses are real, and recovery is possible. Finding what works for you may not be easy but can be achieved by gradually making small changes and building on those successes. By developing your own #Tools2Thrive, it is possible to find a balance between work and play, the ups and downs of life, and physical health and mental health. Remember, Solvista Health is always here for you 24/7, just call 719-275-2351. Crisis help is also available through Colorado Crisis Services by calling, 1- 844-493-8255, or text “TALK” to 38255 to connect with someone.

2020 Census UPDATE: COVID-19

The U.S. Census Bureau has adapted or delayed some of its operations to protect the health and safety of its staff and the public while making sure that the population is counted, albeit another way.

More than half the households across America have responded to the 2020 Census and more are responding every day with a variety of options in place from online, to hone and to mailed self-responses. However, in light of the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Census Bureau has adjusted 2020 Census operations in order to:

• Protect the health and safety of the American public and Census Bureau employees.
• Implement guidance from Federal, State, and local authorities regarding COVID-19.
• Ensure a complete and accurate count of all communities.

Guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management has given Federal agencies guidelines to resume operations on a epidemiologically sound, data-driven basis, adhering to the latest Federal, State and Local guidance. The Census Bureau continues to monitor the changing conditions at the State and Local level and will update its planned start dates for selected operations and in selected states, consulting with appropriate officials.

Information provided daily to the Census Bureau from FEMA, as well as State and Local authorities, will be used to guide Census Bureau decisions on timing. As a result, selected field operations will resume on a phased schedule on a geographic basis. Under the adjusted 2020 Census operational plan, the Census Bureau is conducting a series of preparatory activities so they are fully ready to resume field activities as officials continue to advance the mission of the 2020 Census to ensure a complete and accurate count. In-person activities, including enumeration, office work, and processing activities, will always incorporate the most current guidance from authorities to ensure the health and safety of staff and the public.

Lake County Census Numbers

In Lake County, only 37.8% have responded, with 33.8% of that being conducted online. The good news is that those numbers are up significantly from wjat Leadville Today reported back on March 24, 2020 which was at 11% returns.

Even with the adjusted deadlines, it’s important that the number tick up Lake County’s revenue could depend on it more than ever in light of the current COVID-19 situation as well as a local population which could be shifting and dispersing as jobs dry up and the off-season extends a bit longer than usual.

Clearly there are other, more immediate concerns, but the 2020 Census could be more important than ever for Lake County this time around. No doubt, you’ve heard the sound-bites about how the census statistics are used to determine the number of seats each state holds in the U.S. House of Representatives and informs how billions of dollars in federal funds will be allocated by the state, local and federal lawmakers annually for the next 10 years. And while that first measure can often get lost in the political fog, the second point is significant to small rural communities like Leadville.

Since the last census, Lake County has seen changes in the reporting of data for the local population which could impact how the money comes down the pipeline to Harrison Avenue. For example, babies used to be born in Leadville. Albeit with the planned homebirths and didn’t-quite-make-it-to-the-birthing-room aside, families used to give birth here. There were birth announcements about Leadville babies printed in the local newspaper. As such, they were recorded statistically. Now they are recorded, over the hill in Frisco or down south in Salida where those communities receive certain benefits from those births being officially recorded in their towns.

Online Census: How To Count

Older residents, especially those who had generational ties to Lake County, were also counted.  They aged here, and then they died here. Leadville used to have an extended care unit where the elderly could age in place, visited daily by their family members. Those older American and death numbers mattered too in regard to census numbers and the funds attached to them. But local data doesn’t show those numbers anymore, as options for older residents to age-in-place have diminished in recent years.

So what will the 2020 Census look like and how will it impact this community? There are many more second homeowners who have short-term rentals which used to provide homes for the new babies and older residents who could afford Leadville’s housing market ten years ago.  What about the forms that arrived in their mailboxes (if they even have one), will those fall to the recycle bin along with the economic benefits that go with them?

It will be interesting to see how the numbers represent on the 2020 Census now that the day-to-day reality of living in America’s highest city has changed.