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2026-28 Strategic Plan - The Why and How of Public Health · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

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  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
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  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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  is your weekly Minnesota, where we'll provide
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  a brief update on local public health news. Today,
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  we have Talia Hirsch, Strategic Planning, Health
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  Equity, and Partnerships Program Manager here
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  at the Health Department, here to talk about
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  our new strategic plan. Talia, thanks so much
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  for joining us. Thanks for having me. To start,
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  can you just tell us a little bit more about
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  your role in the health department? Yeah, of
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  course. So as you mentioned, I have a very long
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  title, but really what that means is I get to
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  manage the internal processes in the department
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  as well as some of our community health. So I
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  manage teams such as our tobacco education and
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  prevention, chronic disease, population epidemiology,
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  which is data. health in all policy, and all
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  of that really works together along with our
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  internal initiatives, such as our strategic plan
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  and health equity initiatives coordinator to
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  make sure that the work we're doing internally
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  reflects externally into our community. And how
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  is your role involved in the strategic plan?
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  Yeah. So when I came on five years ago in the
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  department, we had our first strategic plan.
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  It was already created and I was just hired to
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  implement that. And so I spent the first four
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  years here really implementing that plan. And
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  then once we finished that in 2024 through 2025,
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  I was in charge of creating our new strategic
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  plan. So I'm just curious, that means that you
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  started around the time of COVID. Yeah. Was that
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  strategic plan created before COVID, I imagine?
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  Yes. So it was created pre -COVID and I got brought
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  in as someone to help rejuvenate it and also
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  give staff something else to work on because
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  they were pretty burnt out of COVID. So I came
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  on right when vaccines were starting to come
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  out. So a lot of COVID had been over, but it
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  was also a lot more to come. And one of the really
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  big initiatives we had in that strategic plan
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  was investing in our people. And so we did a
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  lot of work on workplace well -being, work -life
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  balance, and making sure that staff were really
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  feeling heard and appreciated coming out of COVID.
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  Yeah, certainly an important time. Why do we
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  have a strategic plan? Who is it for? Yeah, that's
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  a great question. I think there's a lot of different
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  reasons to have a strategic plan. One is it's
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  a really good guiding document and checkpoint.
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  So in order to create a strategic plan, you gather
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  a lot of data. So we gathered data from staff,
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  from community members, and made sure that we're
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  on the right path, that we're doing the right
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  things to meet the need of community. So it helps
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  us as a guiding light and be working towards
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  making the community healthier. It also helps
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  us break down silos and make sure that we're
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  not working alone, for lack of a better word.
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  It makes sure that all the projects we're doing,
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  that all of the initiatives we have, that we're
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  bringing in the right people and that we're able
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  to collaborate on them together. So you mentioned
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  that you gather a lot of feedback from staff.
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  What does that process look like to create and
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  finalize a strategic plan? Yeah, so we really
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  spent all of 2025 gathering information and we
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  did it in a couple different ways. So first,
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  we identified each different team and staff from
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  those teams to have meetings with. And in those
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  meetings, we talked to them about what are your
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  priorities? What are things that you'd like to
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  see happen in the next five years? And rating
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  them on how difficult is it going to be? How
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  much is it going to cost? What does that look
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  like? And doing some charting on that. In those
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  meetings, we also talked to them about who are
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  the stakeholders in the community that you work
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  with the most and how involved should they be
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  in our strategic plan. So we got really program
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  -specific data on what everyone was working with.
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  After that, we also did an all -staff survey.
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  And in that survey, we talked about technology.
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  We talked about quality improvement. We talked
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  about some of the priorities that we saw come
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  up over and over and over again in those initial
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  conversations. provide their input in those areas.
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  And then we also brought some of this information
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  to the Board of Health, and they were able to
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  weigh in on the priorities, the direction we
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  were going, and making sure that it really aligned
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  with their vision of what they wanted the health
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  department to be doing. And then we compiled
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  all that data into making this new strategic
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  plan with our new priority areas, and staff had,
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  again, a chance to look at them like a rough
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  draft version. And let us know, yes, we really
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  like this. This still doesn't make sense. And
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  so we were able to continue tweaking it throughout
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  the whole process. What's the timeline for this
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  new strategic plan? Yeah, we decided to shorten
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  it from a five -year to a three -year. As you
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  mentioned last time, COVID came in the middle.
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  And so we did have to make some tweaks and modifications.
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  And five years can just be a really long time.
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  Things change. And so we thought three years
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  just... fit the bill a little bit more. So it
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  is 2026 through 2028. Now that the plan is finalized,
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  what is the next step? Yeah, so we've divided
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  up the work. So this is really a staff plan.
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  It's not something that I do in a silo and do
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  all the work. Something that I'm really excited
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  about this strategic plan is that it's super
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  tied into a lot of the work we're already doing.
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  amplifies, helps us measure, takes it to the
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  next step of some of the work that was already
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  happening, either from our last strategic plan
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  or from just the work that our staff is doing.
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  So all of the objectives or goals have really
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  been divided up and given out to people to manage
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  on the staff. And they really, there's a wide
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  range. So an example of one is quality improvement.
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  Our goal for this year is to really put together
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  like a governance structure. So when somebody
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  has an idea, they know where to go with that
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  idea. And then we're able to elevate it if it
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  sounds like something the department really should
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  be working on. And we have the support and resources
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  to gather the data, to try new processes, to
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  celebrate and make sure that we have all of that
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  really outlined. The manager team is responsible
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  for that goal. So they're going to be the ones
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  working on it and rolling it out and getting
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  it off the ground and making that move forward.
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  Another example is this podcast. So I am not
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  responsible for making this podcast happen. That
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  is you all and the communications and technology
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  team. And I'm here to just help think about how
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  are we measuring our impact with it? How are
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  we communicating it with staff and with the public
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  and making sure we really have those trackable
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  measures? How does this new strategic plan compare
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  to the previous one? What changed and what motivated
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  those changes? Yeah, that's a great question.
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  I would say the biggest difference is our first
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  strategic plan was really, really internally
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  focused. It was focused on our internal process
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  and systems, investing in our people, being health
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  strategists and data work. And coming out of
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  that strategic plan, something we heard a lot
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  from community as well as Board of Health and
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  to some degree staff was, why isn't this external
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  at all? There's a missing piece there because
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  the work we do really affects the community.
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  We did keep some of those pieces. So quality
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  improvement was in our first strategic plan,
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  and we're doing more with it in the second. Investing
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  in our people, that's something we never want
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  to lose. We want to continue the work that we've
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  done on that. But we've also added things in
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  around building trust in the community. And our
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  health and all policy work and our emergency
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  preparedness work where it's way more community
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  centered and way more doing research and trying
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  to figure out what really is the community need
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  and how do we fit that bill. An example of that
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  is we do have a goal around doing more research
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  and data collection about what it would look
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  like for us to have. pop -up clinics, mobile
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  clinics, more events in the community that would
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  make sense for the staff and team that we have
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  and the services we provide, but also meeting
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  the community where they're at, where they might
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  not be able to come into the public health department
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  or they might not feel safe coming into a government
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  agency. So how do we meet them where they are
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  for immunizations, for sexual and reproductive
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  health, for tobacco education? And what does
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  that look like? Is it having a mobile truck?
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  Maybe. Is it having pop -up clinics at... Other
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  places in the community that are already trusted,
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  we're not sure, but we need to do some of that
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  research because that's what we've heard from
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  the community that they want that. I would say
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  the second big change from our first strategic
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  plan is our new values. So something we heard
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  from staff a lot was our values weren't super
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  easy to understand and they weren't super actionable.
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  So they didn't really know how they applied to
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  their work. So we took that feedback and we...
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  We have six new values, which are integrity,
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  purpose, compassion, health equity, connection,
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  and curiosity. And with those, we also have statements
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  that talk about what does that really mean in
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  our work. So those are we act with integrity
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  and communicate clearly and honestly. We serve
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  with purpose using data and community voice to
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  guide our work. We approach our work with compassion
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  and trauma -informed lens. We center health equity
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  in our decisions and actions. We foster connection
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  with our team and community, and we embrace curiosity
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  and a drive for continuous improvement. And then
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  to kind of keep diving into the meat of the new
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  strategic plan, there were four key priorities
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  identified for this plan. And I wanted to just
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  kind of walk through each one and talk a little
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  bit about them. You've talked a little bit already
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  about the first one, building systems for continuous
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  improvement. Can you tell us a little bit about
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  how that ended up in the strategic plan? And
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  some examples of how that might show up in the
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  health department's work? Yeah. So something
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  we always hear and we heard a lot in doing both
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  the staff interviews as well as the survey is
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  there's a lot of processes and systems that are
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  duplicative and that are really inefficient and
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  that staff don't have time to do the other work
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  because they're working on in systems that don't
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  work. And it's. kind of this thing between a
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  needle and a harm place where staff don't have
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  time to work on these projects and make them
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  more efficient, but unless they make them more
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  efficient, they won't have the time to do it.
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  So this is showing up in our work in a few different
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  ways because staff is starting to do quality
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  improvement projects. We have some projects happening
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  in environmental health around the licensing
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  process and how to make that more effective and
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  efficient. So we're really trying to look at
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  a range of different projects and making sure
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  that they're effective and efficient. And then
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  I imagine the goal, if quality improvement projects
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  work, then our staff has more time for our other
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  key priorities to focus on their other work.
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  That's the hope, is that staff feel... like things
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  are running smoothly and that they have time
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  to focus on other aspects of their job. The second
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  key priority that was identified was enhancing
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  public understanding and trust in public health.
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  That's a big priority. Can you just kind of talk
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  about again where that came from and how it ended
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  up in the strategic plan? Yeah, so that came
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  again from conversations with staff and wanting
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  to do... More community engagement, but not necessarily
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  knowing if they have the right training or the
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  right knowledge to be able to do that. And so
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  we wanted to make sure to provide an area where
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  we can both provide that training as well as
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  have other opportunities for staff to engage
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  with the community. So an example of that is
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  this podcast that falls into that category. Some
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  of the goals around doing research of pop -up
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  clinics or things like that fall into that. Also
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  trying to connect more with community health
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  workers, primatoras, people who are already working
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  in the health navigation field and learning more
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  about what resources are out there and also what
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  we offer so that they can share that with the
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  community and thinking about what type of position
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  do we need. in our department to make sure we're
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  reaching the community? Do we need a community
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  health worker or do we need something else? So
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  what does that look like is in the strategic
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  plan? And this is one that was super hard to
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  figure out how to measure because how do you
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  measure public trust? And all of these goals
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  and objectives do have certain measurements or
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  outcomes associated with them. And some of them
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  are really process -based and some of them are
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  percentage based. So because we've done some
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  surveys, we do have some baseline information
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  from staff of how comfortable they feel with
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  community engagement. But then some of it is
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  process based, like how many podcasts are we
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  releasing or the metrics from the podcast, who's
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  listening and really looking at those and being
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  able to dive into them. And this one in particular
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  feels like it can vary quite a bit for different
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  teams in the health department. For people who
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  maybe aren't as familiar with the health department,
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  there are some staff that interact with the community
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  all the time that work in our clinic or maybe
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  run our community health improvement plan. Whereas
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  those that work on our consumer protection team
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  maybe interact more solely with restaurant owners
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  and operators. So I guess I'm just curious how
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  this kind of shows up across the health department
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  with all those various roles and interactions
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  with the community. Yeah, that's a really great
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  question. It's important to just think about
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  the fact that all the work that we do impacts
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  the community. Our goal as a public health department
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  is to make the community as healthy as possible.
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  And so even individuals who don't necessarily
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  go out and talk to the community every day, the
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  work that they're doing internally allows other
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  people to be able to do that. They might not
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  necessarily be working on this goal, but it is
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  important for them to be able to hear about what's
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  happening in the community in order to make the
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  best decisions. Another goal that fits into this
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  priority is the leadership team is actually hosting
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  events where staff who work in the community
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  can come back and share what they're hearing.
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  So many of our leadership team members don't
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  go out and talk directly to community members
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  because they're so focused on some of the internal
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  work. But in order to make decisions that are
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  the best they can be for the community, they
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  need to be able to hear that. And so we built
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  in those listening sessions as a way for staff
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  to come and directly communicate to them what
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  they're hearing in the community. The third priority
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  area that was identified is empowering a collaborative
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  and equitable workforce. What does that priority
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  area look like in practice? That includes our
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  onboarding processes. our stellar first day,
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  our workforce development. So making sure that
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  staff have funds to use for their professional
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  development. Some of this is also around fostering
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  collaboration. So that's looking like having
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  different groups of staff get together that don't
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  always work together. So for example, we have
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  nurses that work in our clinic, in our communicable
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  disease, in our nurse family partnerships program.
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  I know I'm probably missing one as well. And
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  so How do we intentionally set aside time for
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  those nurses to interact and talk about each
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  other's programs and learn from each other and
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  be able to share resources? Or for example, my
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  team does a lot of work with talking to patients
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  about tobacco use, but we do a lot of that in
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  the community. And we sometimes forget that we
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  have a clinic downstairs who also has patients
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  and that we can talk to. And we also have a new
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  chronic disease grant. So we're planning to connect
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  with clerical and clinical staff. just to get
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  to know each other, learn about our programs
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  and see how we can work together. The last piece
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  of this one is our health equity committee, which
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  we do a lot of health equity work internally.
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  We have different trainings. We have monthly
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  newsletters. We have each team has a different
• 16:56
  work plan with different goals. And so this is
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  the first year we have a group of staff coming
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  together to really help work on those goals rather
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  than it living with one individual, which it
• 17:06
  can be really hard. just because it's hard work
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  to think about health equity all the time. And
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  so this is another opportunity for staff to really
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  collaborate as well as move our mission forward.
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  And this is one where internally, if we're talking
• 17:20
  about health equity, we're talking about how
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  things are impacting the community. We're able
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  to better reflect on it and be able to serve
• 17:28
  our community better. And the health equity committee,
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  it sounds like it has staff from different teams
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  to bring that different perspective as well,
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  right? Yeah. So a lot of these initiatives started
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  last year and Devante, who's our health equity
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  initiatives coordinator, has started them. One
• 17:44
  of them is Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers,
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  which is a monthly newsletter that covers different
• 17:48
  health equity topics. We've also had trainings
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  come into all staff that he's helped create and
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  lead along with our community engagement coordinator,
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  Dominique. And he's done an awesome job of creating
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  this base of all these different programming.
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  But it's hard for him to always think about,
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  like, what does the clinic need? What does communications
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  need? What does communicable disease need? And
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  so this is the first year we're really bringing
• 18:16
  everyone together to share those ideas and to
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  start brainstorming. How do we come up with topics
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  that are really relevant to all of staff and
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  work on them together? And then the final priority
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  area that was identified. is strengthening organizational
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  resilience and preparedness. Yeah, and that one
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  actually also includes our health and all policy
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  work. And so these were both, I would say these
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  priorities really came from the Board of Health.
• 18:44
  They really are looking at when there's wildfires,
• 18:49
  when the air quality is not great, when there's
• 18:52
  an outbreak, how are we prepared for those? So
• 18:54
  are we keeping our emergency plans up to date?
• 18:57
  And then our health and all policy work has really
• 18:59
  taken off in the last few years where we're looking
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  upstream. So we're looking at how do policies
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  impact health and what impacts does that then
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  have on public health funding or public health
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  interest areas and how do we impact those at
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  the policy level. So, for example, when there's
• 19:19
  policies about immunizations or vaccines, we
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  can have a say in that by giving public comment,
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  by talking to our representatives. First, we
• 19:28
  also have a responsibility of giving vaccines
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  out. So how does all of this show up in the community?
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  How does it end up impacting public health here
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  in Larimer County? Yeah, that's a great question.
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  And one that I think we... have to wait and see
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  a little bit, right? So we do have a lot of initiatives
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  that are meant to be working in the community.
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  We have a lot of initiatives that are internal
• 19:53
  that we hope translate into working in the community,
• 19:56
  but we don't always know and we don't always
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  have the answer. What we think is going to happen
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  sometimes totally doesn't happen or we have to
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  learn and adapt and pivot. I mean, we're hoping
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  that it shows up by people having more access.
• 20:12
  We're hoping that it shows up by people better
• 20:14
  understanding what public health is and knowing
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  when to come and work with us. We are hoping
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  it shows up by our staff having a better work
• 20:22
  -life balance and staying and having some longevity
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  there so that we can build these relationships
• 20:26
  in the community. But we're going to have to
• 20:29
  really consistently use measures and outcomes.
• 20:35
  look at what we're doing and adapting to make
• 20:37
  sure that we're continuing to meet the needs
• 20:39
  of the community. And so that's another good,
• 20:43
  interesting point of a strategic plan is some
• 20:45
  people think that you make a strategic plan and
• 20:47
  you follow it to a T and that you never make
• 20:50
  any changes until you have to make a new one.
• 20:53
  And I really view a strategic plan as a work
• 20:56
  in progress. So we made it at one point in time.
• 20:59
  And every year we have to go back and look at
• 21:02
  it and say, okay, is this doing what we thought
• 21:06
  it was going to do? If the answer is yes, okay,
• 21:08
  how do we expand on that? And if the answer is
• 21:10
  no, okay, do we need to create a new goal? Do
• 21:13
  we need to revamp the goal that's currently happening?
• 21:16
  Or is there something else that we need to be
• 21:19
  doing? So I think it'll be really interesting
• 21:22
  over the next few years to see the impact you're
• 21:24
  making in the community and really be able to
• 21:26
  try to tell that story. Is there anything in
• 21:28
  particular that you're personally most excited
• 21:31
  about in this strategic plan? I think what I'm
• 21:34
  most excited about the strategic plan is just
• 21:37
  how integrated it is into everybody's work. I
• 21:43
  think a lot of times strategic plans are looked
• 21:48
  at as, oh, it's something I have to do outside
• 21:52
  of my normal job. Oh, I have to get involved
• 21:54
  in this. gives them direction in the work they're
• 22:05
  already doing. So that's been exciting. And the
• 22:08
  fact that staff really feel like they had an
• 22:10
  input in it. As far as goals I'm excited about,
• 22:15
  I feel like right now it's probably around quality
• 22:19
  improvement and process improvement just because
• 22:21
  I've been in it and been working on that one.
• 22:24
  And so that's really the only place my brain
• 22:26
  is going. There's a lot of really great initiatives
• 22:30
  happening that I'm excited about. And then lastly,
• 22:32
  what do you personally enjoy most about your
• 22:35
  work? Yeah, I think I'm really lucky in that
• 22:37
  a lot of people talk about being siloed and not
• 22:40
  being able to work across the department. But
• 22:42
  in my job, I do. And I love that because I've
• 22:45
  been able to work with people across the department.
• 22:48
  I've gotten to learn a lot about consumer protection,
• 22:51
  air quality, chronic disease, communicable disease.
• 22:56
  The people in public health are just awesome.
• 22:58
  They have the best hearts. They are just the
• 23:01
  best people and so fun to work with. So I feel
• 23:04
  very honored that I get to work with them every
• 23:06
  day. Awesome. Talia, thank you so much for joining
• 23:09
  us to talk about the strategic plan. Thanks.
• 23:13
  Do you have a question about public health in
• 23:15
  Larimer County or a topic you'd like us to discuss?
• 23:18
  Let us know. Email us at healthiertogetheratlarimer
• 23:22
  .org. Thanks for listening, Larimer County. Until
• 23:25
  next week, stay well, stay connected, and remember,
• 23:28
  we really are healthier together.