Spotlighting Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera
Today, Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera joined Governor Jared Polis virtually to discuss the importance of staying home and staying connected with others, and provided an update on COVID-19 work.
Lt. Governor Primavera has been working remotely on a number of important priorities, including:
Space Command
As the state’s lead on the aerospace and defense industry, Lt. Gov. Primavera successfully pushed to make Peterson Air Force Base the provisional headquarters for US Space Command. She is working with federal, state and local partners to make Colorado the permanent home for US Space Command which will not only bring more jobs to Colorado, but showcase our state’s contribution to our nation’s aerospace and defense industry.
Behavioral Health Task Force
Lt. Gov. Primavera is heading up the new COVID-19 Special Task Force on the Behavioral Health Task Force, to help us understand how COVID-19 has affected Coloradans’ ability to access services and what we can do to prepare our system for any future crises. We know things like job loss, reduced hours, social isolation, closures of schools and businesses, and access to basic needs like food and housing, have had a tremendous impact on mental health and substance use. If you need help right now, Colorado Crisis Services is just a phone call, a text, or a few clicks away. You can call 844-493-8255, text TALK to 38255, or visit coloradocrisisservices.org.
Indian Country
As the Chair of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, Lt. Gov. Primavera has been engaging with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe as well as urban American Indian/Alaska Native-serving organizations to ensure our response is working for all communities. The Lt. Gov. has also established a Health & Wellness Committee to focus on COVID-19 response in Indian Country.
Serve Colorado
As the leader of the Serve Colorado program, the Lt. Gov. has been working to bring more than 800 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps service members to Colorado to conduct contact tracing. Hiring more contact tracers will improve our response to outbreaks, which will save lives and allow us to reopen our economy and society more quickly. Individuals interested in contact tracing work can sign up at colorado.gov/ServeColorado/ContactTracing.
Office of Saving People Money on Health Care
Lt. Gov. Primavera has been working to save people money on health care throughout the pandemic, including leading the crafting of a telehealth executive order, in partnership with state agencies, to assure Coloradans could access affordable health care and that virtual COVID-19 care remains free for patients.
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Legislative Session Updates
Since the beginning of this crisis, the Governor has worked with the State Legislature to build a resilient response for Colorado in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, both from a health perspective and an economic perspective.
The Governor thanked the legislators for working on key legislation to assist Coloradans during the pandemic, including:
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- Lowering health care costs by protecting the state’s reinsurance program, which has led to double-digit premium reductions in communities across the state.
- Creating a loan relief fund and a small business grant program to help small businesses weather the crisis.
- Bolstering the state’s unemployment insurance program and adding provisions such as workshare, which is good for employers and employees and allows for employees to work a reduced number of hours while still collecting unemployment insurance.
- Working towards a more permanent paid sick policy for Colorado, building on temporary measures that Gov. Polis enacted through executive order to ensure that employees can take time off if they get sick, and won’t spread coronavirus at work.
- Relief funding for housing, food, and energy assistance, so Coloradans can stay ahead on their bills during this very challenging time.
- Turning relaxed regulations like curbside pickup and delivery of alcohol from the Governor’s executive order into law. Relaxed regulations have been important to restaurants during this challenging time.
- Bipartisan support for repealing the Gallagher Amendment, which will allow us to support our frontline heroes by making sure that fire, ambulatory, health, and hospital districts throughout our state have the resources they need to confront this extraordinary crisis and protect Coloradans. Repealing the Gallagher Amendment will also be a boost to many small businesses that will face a tax increase if it is not repealed.
- Police accountability legislation that includes a number of key reforms to protect civil rights, reduce police violence, address structural inequities in the criminal justice system, and foster more trust between police and the communities they serve.
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COVID-19 Relief Fund Update
The Governor applauded the efforts of the COVID-19 Relief Fund, which has raised $18,976,908 million, and made four rounds of awards to over 650 Colorado community-based organizations that have the relationships, the expertise, and the local knowledge to be effective in helping people in need.
The Governor highlighted two examples of tremendous work being done on the front lines of this response:
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1. GrowHaus
The first is GrowHaus. GrowHaus serves as a source of fresh food in the Elyria-Swansea and Globeville neighborhoods of Denver, where there are few traditional grocery stores within walking distance for many residents.
GrowHaus has built trust in the community by using community-based staff, who they call promotoras, that personally know families in the area who are struggling and work to connect them with the benefits they need.
When COVID-19 hit, GrowHaus received a massive increase in households looking for services. They mobilized their entire team to start packing & delivering emergency food packages to households in need across the area at no charge. In addition, they purchased even more food when the crisis hit to ensure that they could keep up with the increased demand.
Thanks to the help they’ve received from the COVID-19 Relief Fund, GrowHaus is currently serving 2,500 residents and partnering with other local organizations like Bondadosa, Denver Food Rescue, and We Don’t Waste.
Hunger is the number-one economic issue impacting families on the front lines of this crisis, and the Governor is glad that organizations like GrowHaus are receiving support to keep food on the table during this difficult time.
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2. River Valley Family Health Center
The second organization the Governor highlighted is the River Valley Family Health Center, which is serving thousands of families in Delta, Montrose, and Olathe counties with high-quality and affordable health care.
River Valley Family Health has adapted their services to meet the demands of the times by doing the following:
- Increased IT support for telehealth so that people don’t have to come in for appointments.
- Strengthened their routers, so that patients who may have limited or no access to Wi-Fi can come to the parking lot and have a remote session.
- Worked with a local contractor to install a negative air pressure room, which will increase ventilation and decrease the likelihood of COVID-19 transmission.
- Taking staff temperatures twice per day and taking the temperature of every person who enters the facility.
- Increased the level of cleaning in all of their clinics.
They have also taken steps to respond to the need for COVID-19 testing by:
- Offering testing for COVID-19.
- Ensuring that any patient testing for COVID gets follow-up behavioral health outreach in a timely fashion.
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These are just two of the hundreds of incredible local organizations that we are funding through the COVID Relief Fund.
The Governor would like to thank everyone who has already contributed and encourages everyone, especially those who haven’t been particularly hard-hit by this pandemic, to take a moment and help those who haven’t been as lucky by visiting HelpColoradoNow.org and donating to the fund.
We greatly appreciate your help in sharing valuable information during this crisis, and we will continue to send regular updates.
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