Latest / Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast / National Public Health Week & The 2025 Brendan Unitt Community Service Award

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National Public Health Week & The 2025 Brendan Unitt Community Service Award · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

0:01
Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
0:04
public health podcast, where we come together
0:05
for healthier lives, connected communities, and
0:08
real conversations. From your local public health
0:10
team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
0:13
is your weekly Minnesota where we'll provide
0:15
a brief update on local public health news. This
0:18
week, we have a special segment for National
0:20
Public Health Week. National Public Health Week
0:23
is an annual event where we come together to
0:25
celebrate the impact of public health in improving
0:28
our day -to -day lives, safeguarding our families,
0:31
and strengthening our communities. The week is
0:34
also about honoring the public health workers
0:36
who show up for us every day. So for this week's
0:39
episode, we invited our staff to come share a
0:41
bit about why they work in public health. My
0:44
name is Kenzie. I work as the Bilingual Communications
0:46
Specialist at Larimer County Department of Health
0:49
and Environment. And something I've learned since
0:52
joining public health that's a bit of a fun fact,
0:54
in my opinion, is that everything you can think
0:56
of really is related to public health, from access
0:59
to clean air and water to access to great housing
1:03
opportunities to immunizations and even the cute
1:06
baby bunnies in your backyard. Everything is
1:08
tied to public health, and I'm just really proud
1:10
that our department gets to touch. on all the
1:13
aspects that make up public health. My name is
1:15
Tristan. I work as an environmental health specialist
1:17
or health inspector. The reason I chose to work
1:19
in public health is I view it as a more holistic
1:21
approach to keep people healthy and the community
1:23
safe as opposed to a more targeted approach in
1:25
the medical field. My name is May. I'm the culture
1:27
and engagement specialist at the Larimer County
1:29
Department of Health and Environment. And what
1:31
I enjoy most about my work is that every day
1:34
is different. I have my itinerary and things
1:37
to do, then there will be some surprises in between.
1:39
I wear different hats. I organize events, reach
1:42
out to organizations and presenters, help with
1:44
hiring and onboarding, and I work with different
1:47
teams in our department. Plus, I get to learn
1:50
something new about public health, which I share
1:52
with my partner and our 12 -year -old. I'm Nicole
1:54
Aguilar. I'm the Consumer Protection Program
1:56
Manager, and we are the program that does the
1:59
inspections for restaurants and daycares and
2:01
schools. That's what I really love about the
2:04
work that we do, is that everybody in the community
2:07
is touched by... our program and our part of
2:09
public health. Because if you have kids in childcare,
2:12
if you go to one of our public or private schools,
2:16
if you go eat out at restaurants, and even if
2:19
you don't, everybody goes to the grocery store.
2:20
So we are the people in the background making
2:23
sure that that can happen in a safe manner. And
2:25
I also really love that our program is one of
2:28
the ones that get brand new environmental health
2:31
specialists. We can have entry -level people
2:33
come in. And so we really get to... introduce
2:36
people to environmental health and how they can
2:39
engage in that part of public health within their
2:42
community and supporting those people where they
2:44
live. This is Aaron McDowell with the Larimer
2:47
County Department of Health and Environment.
2:48
I'm a senior environmental health specialist.
2:50
So I came to environmental health indirectly.
2:54
So I was just out of college, had a kid on the
2:58
way, and had just had a surgery so I couldn't
3:01
go to my normal fallback. of construction when
3:04
I needed some work. A professor of mine from
3:06
college sent me a job post for the local public
3:10
health agency where I was living, and I thought
3:13
it sounded interesting and had health insurance.
3:15
So I applied, got the job, but, you know, once
3:19
I started, I really found that I did like it.
3:22
It's a good mix of a lot of my past experiences.
3:25
You know, I used to do industrial or healthcare,
3:27
groceries, restaurants, but it's a good blend
3:29
of the environmental aspects, too, in our communities,
3:34
build a baseline of health and well -being for
3:40
folks to give them that opportunity to live to
3:43
their full potential. So I really enjoy that
3:46
and getting to know the communities I live and
3:48
work in. Each year, the Board of Larimer County
3:54
Commissioners presents the Brendan Unit Community
3:56
Service Award to a Larimer County employee who
3:58
demonstrates a passion for serving the community.
4:00
The 2025 award went to Ricardo Perez, the Public
4:04
Engagement Manager for the Larimer County Department
4:06
of Emergency Management. Ricardo was here with
4:08
us today to talk about the award and the work
4:10
he has been recognized for. Ricardo, thank you
4:12
so much for joining us. Hi, Tom. Good to see
4:14
you. Thanks for having me. So first of all, congratulations
4:16
on... receiving the Brendan Unit Community Service
4:19
Award. Can you tell us a little bit more about
4:21
what that award actually is? Sure. Yeah, yeah,
4:24
yeah. Very, very honored to even be considered
4:27
for kind of the Ranger Brendan Unit Community
4:30
Service Award. Brendan was a ranger with natural
4:34
areas, but he also was recognized for the work
4:37
that he was doing. outside of his work, community
4:40
service type oriented. I believe the last year
4:43
when I got recognized was the fifth year of the
4:45
award. Since the passing of Brendan in 2020,
4:49
the county recognized the work that he was doing,
4:53
community service oriented, going kind of above
4:55
and beyond his role as a ranger, and then recognizing
5:00
county employees that are doing community type
5:03
oriented. maybe outside of their roles with the
5:07
county. So, yeah, that's a little bit about the
5:10
ward. Yeah, so it sounds like you're being recognized
5:13
for both your work in the county and also some
5:16
of the work that you've done outside your official
5:18
capacity. Can you tell us some more about the
5:21
work that you're being recognized for outside
5:23
of the Office of Emergency Management? I get
5:26
the chance to kind of work with community members
5:27
in Larimer County through... kind of connecting
5:31
them in different ways to emergency related information
5:33
underserved populations how do we kind of reach
5:36
folks where they're at so I've gotten like the
5:38
chance to meet folks throughout the county in
5:40
different kind of non -profit areas different
5:42
areas of the county different needs you know
5:44
and information and resources but that kind of
5:47
opened up my eyes to kind of go back to my youth
5:51
soccer, soccer roots, and maybe use some of those
5:54
connections, those skills that I got to learn
5:56
with Larimer OEM and kind of the community service
5:59
-oriented job, and then try to connect with folks
6:01
that are youth that really are passionate about
6:05
soccer. I have a background in youth soccer and
6:09
collegiate soccer and even got the chance to
6:11
play pro soccer a little bit, but I always enjoyed
6:13
connecting with kids at soccer clinics and kind
6:17
of playing, teaching them kind of basic soccer
6:21
stuff and just enjoying the game with them. So
6:23
I've gotten the chance over the years to connect
6:27
with youth in the Larimer area, outside of Larimer
6:31
as well. Just, again, connecting with them. Kids
6:34
love the sport. The sport did amazing things
6:36
for me growing up. Got to meet a lot of people,
6:39
got to play in different areas, even outside
6:41
of the country too. Gave me a lot of positive
6:44
experiences that, yeah, I've had the chance to
6:46
connect with folks, with youth in different organizations
6:49
and mobile home parks, different kind of youth
6:51
soccer organizations and parents as well. Gotcha.
6:54
So one of the efforts it looks like that you
6:56
were being recognized for was your work with
6:58
the Nueva Vida Mobile Home Park in Fort Collins
7:01
and the creation of the soccer field there. Can
7:03
you tell us a little bit more about that? Sure.
7:05
Yeah. So much work. Nueva Vida, amazing work
7:08
by the community members there. So that's a mobile
7:10
home park on kind of the Mulberry area right
7:13
north of Mulberry. So I got introduced to that
7:16
mobile home park at a community resource fair
7:19
a few years ago. where I was sharing kind of
7:22
emergency preparedness resources and then there
7:24
was other departments and other kind of organizations
7:26
sharing useful information to community members
7:29
there. So we got to meet some of the community
7:31
members there and then we learned that there
7:34
were some kids from the mobile home park that
7:36
lived there that were playing soccer. at the
7:39
the space near the front of the mobile home park
7:41
and how maybe there wasn't there wasn't a fence
7:44
there wasn't any goals it was more kids just
7:46
wanting to play and they saw a space and it was
7:48
right there in their neighborhood so so yeah
7:50
myself and then a few folks at the fair there
7:53
we were kind of brainstorming oh how cool would
7:55
it be to kind of support the kids they already
7:57
have a space but maybe we could get some goals
7:59
donated some soccer nets as well um and then
8:03
kind of See how we can kind of make this thing
8:06
a little soccer field. So, yeah, a lot of work
8:08
from different folks. We got goals donated. The
8:11
Nets donated as well. And then we put together
8:13
kind of a celebration for the kids. We brought
8:17
down kind of the Colorado Rapids mascot, Rapid
8:20
Man. Hooter Fire Authority brought their fire
8:23
truck as well with some firefighters. A few departments
8:27
pitched in for a food truck to have food for
8:30
the community there. One of the community members
8:34
from the mobile home park had a sound system
8:37
for like weddings and quinceañeras. So they brought
8:40
it in. So we made it kind of a party kind of
8:43
thing with the community members. We ran like
8:45
a little pickup soccer game with the kids. Adults
8:48
were even joining in the fun. And yeah, it was
8:51
an afternoon of just having a celebration about
8:57
the field with the kids. And yeah, a lot of work
9:00
from different folks. To be able to create that,
9:03
and it was just so cool to see the kids enjoy
9:05
the soccer field. Soccer balls were donated as
9:08
well, some soccer gear, and yeah, it was pretty
9:10
cool to see. Do you still play soccer with those
9:14
kids? So, yeah, I drive past that mobile home
9:18
park and the soccer field basically once a week.
9:21
And I haven't had the chance to go back and kind
9:24
of play a little bit with the kids in a little
9:27
bit of time. But, yeah, it makes me so glad to
9:30
see. And when I drive past it and I see kids
9:32
still playing there, it's incredible. So, yeah,
9:34
I'm very happy to see that the kids are still
9:37
enjoying it. But yeah, I hope to come by there
9:41
soon and engage with the kids and play and see
9:44
how the field keeps growing. Well, that's very
9:47
cool. Can you tell us a little bit more about
9:49
your professional experience with soccer? Sure.
9:52
So I played Division I soccer at Creighton University
9:56
in Omaha, Nebraska. So I played four seasons
10:00
there while I was getting a Bachelor's of Business
10:03
Administration. But I grew up playing here in
10:06
Fort Collins. I'm originally from Mexico, but
10:09
we came to Fort Collins when I was eight. So
10:11
I grew up playing rec soccer in Fort Collins.
10:15
Played for Fort Collins Arsenal Soccer Club,
10:18
I think, a few years, like U11 through 13. And
10:22
then went to play kind of youth soccer academy
10:25
at the Colorado Rapids, probably 14 through 18.
10:29
And then I went to Creighton University, played
10:31
four years, and then... Landed with the Colorado
10:34
Rapids as a homegrown for a few years there.
10:36
But I got the chance to play in Charlotte, North
10:39
Carolina, in Lansing, Michigan, and then in New
10:44
Mexico, Florida as well. But yeah, soccer was
10:49
always, it was a family thing. Yeah, my brother
10:52
also played soccer professionally in Mexico.
10:54
He was a goalie. Who's the better player, you
10:55
or him? Well, I'd say he's definitely, he's a
10:58
goalie. He's the best goalie. I couldn't touch.
11:02
I would not go in the goal, but I think I could,
11:04
I could beat him. I could shoot the ball scoring
11:06
goals, but we have, that's the competitive nature
11:08
that we had as brothers was he was in goal and
11:11
then I was shooting and naturally we would both
11:13
kind of. yeah, train each other and kind of improve
11:17
what we were doing. So yeah, good question. That's
11:21
funny. And this kind of goes back to another
11:22
question that we had just to kind of, you know,
11:25
hammer home the point. I mean, these are really
11:26
important spaces for kids, especially. Did you
11:29
have something like that growing up when you
11:30
were a kid? Yeah, good question. I don't think
11:35
so. Not in my specific neighborhood where I grew
11:37
up, but in Mexico, soccer is the most popular
11:41
sport in the country. and in many other countries
11:44
outside the U .S. as well. But in Mexico, you
11:48
have kind of very humble soccer -type environment
11:52
places in neighborhoods. It could be like a concrete
11:55
slab with some metal basketball hoops, but underneath
11:58
the basketball hoops, you have a soccer frame
12:02
goal. So there's ways to put that in the neighborhoods.
12:07
That's kind of what I grew up in in Mexico was...
12:10
you could find places, a space to go play soccer.
12:13
And you also don't need a lot of things to be
12:16
able to play soccer. You need a soccer ball,
12:18
but if you don't have a soccer ball, people get
12:20
really creative and find a water bottle, you
12:22
know, kind of you find the way to play. But that's
12:25
kind of the background that I had is in Mexico,
12:27
you have kind of that, it's in the neighborhood,
12:29
you know, being able to play. So once I started
12:34
working kind of in the community here and through
12:36
my kind of soccer journey. I think I was curious
12:39
to find if there was any other opportunities.
12:41
So when we learned about Nrabida, it was like
12:43
things were clicking in my head of maybe this
12:46
is a place where we could kind of support. And
12:49
there's already kind of the youth rallying around
12:52
the sport, and there's a location, maybe just
12:54
a few things to help improve it. But, yeah, basically
12:58
the location was already there. But, yeah, the
13:01
places are super important to just help health
13:04
and wellness, you know, for youth. If they don't
13:08
have the transportation barrier of having to
13:10
travel to go to a place where they can play,
13:12
that's the best thing. And I did want to just
13:15
change gears then. You know, that was the work
13:17
that you've done outside of your job as a coordinator
13:20
for Office of Emergency Management. What were
13:22
you being recognized for then in your official
13:25
capacity? So, I mean, I can touch on the things
13:28
that I think I was getting recognized. Like I
13:34
mentioned in my official kind of role with Larimer
13:36
County Office of Emergency Management, I was
13:39
hired initially as a bilingual communications
13:41
and engagement coordinator during the COVID -19
13:45
recovery phase. So I got the chance to connect
13:49
with Spanish -speaking communities in Larimer,
13:53
how do we share information and resources with
13:55
them, kind of be a... serve in a community liaison
13:59
role to learn about their needs, kind of share
14:02
it back with the county. And then ever since,
14:04
been able to kind of connect with other underserved
14:07
communities in Larimer County. So, yeah, really
14:10
grateful that I have the role to be able to learn
14:13
and kind of engage, build relationships with
14:15
folks, try to learn about some of the needs in
14:17
the community and kind of connect. Larimer County
14:19
resources with them. What kind of needs do you
14:22
see there? I know one of the things is kind of
14:23
basic resources for information. Obviously, there's
14:27
the world that I live in is emergency preparedness.
14:31
So receiving information for emergency alerts,
14:35
you know, evacuation information. How do we kind
14:38
of put together a go kit if we need to evacuate
14:40
kind of those things? Those are kind of specific
14:42
to emergency preparedness, but also there's communication
14:45
resources, right, folks? need housing. I could
14:48
go on and on as maybe we all know, but. So what
14:51
kind of volunteer or community outreach activities
14:53
are you involved in currently? My wife and I,
14:55
we've been volunteering with Soccer Without Borders.
14:59
So it's an organization that helps youth kind
15:02
of from diverse backgrounds also get that environment
15:06
of organized support in soccer, but also youth
15:10
development, communication, teamwork, collaboration,
15:14
things. But yeah, we've been volunteering with
15:17
them in Greeley. And I've been volunteering kind
15:19
of with the Jedi Coalition as well. Also within
15:24
Larimer OEM, kind of a role, but more as a kind
15:27
of interested partner in the community. What
15:29
is that organization? So the Jedi Coalition,
15:32
it's Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
15:36
That's the acronym for Jedi Coalition. And that
15:39
group is a group of... Interested folks, community
15:42
members in Larimer County, also folks from organizations
15:46
like government or nonprofit that are interested
15:49
in kind of advancing equity, diversity, inclusion
15:52
topics in the community. It was a group that
15:55
kind of was formed after the COVID -19 collaboration
15:59
with the community that Larimer OEM was doing
16:02
with partners around advancing vaccine equity.
16:07
The health department was actually very, very,
16:09
very... and very instrumental in kind of moving
16:13
that piece along. Very cool. So I did kind of
16:17
want to touch on just some of the work that OEM
16:19
is doing. You know, it sounds like a lot of challenging
16:23
things are going on there with just identifying
16:26
and filling those gaps and preparedness responses
16:28
and resources throughout Larimer County. How
16:31
does language access play into that? Yeah, language
16:34
access is a huge thing. So what we try to do
16:36
in Larimer OEM is trying to make it easy for
16:39
folks, to receive information and resources.
16:42
So that means kind of thinking of the different
16:45
ways that folks need to receive information.
16:48
If it's different languages, if it's information
16:52
in Spanish, information in American Sign Language,
16:55
information in other languages other than Spanish.
16:57
So in our office, I'm tasked with providing information
17:01
in English and in Spanish as a bilingual kind
17:04
of... communications role but also we've been
17:07
incorporating our public resources information
17:09
that we put out in the community with American
17:11
Sign Language and then we've we've worked with
17:14
our partners also to try and identify the languages
17:16
that are spoken in the county so leveraging the
17:19
technology that we have on our website to kind
17:21
of for language access of different languages
17:24
so we're we're we're trying to build out how
17:28
do we kind of make it easy for folks to get information
17:32
in different languages but the language access
17:34
piece is crucial for folks to get the information
17:38
they need get it so that they understand it in
17:41
the best way possible but also it's yeah the
17:43
delivery piece that is crucial in the language
17:45
access piece and especially for emergency preparedness
17:50
information can you share with us some information
17:54
or alert systems that people could subscribe
17:57
to? So subscribing to emergency alerts in Larimer
18:00
County are through nocoalert .org. So that's
18:04
from the Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority.
18:06
The Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority does
18:09
the emergency alerts for Larimer County and other
18:11
counties as well. But for Larimer County community
18:14
members going to nocoalert .org, you can sign
18:17
up for emergency alerts. It's an opt -in service.
18:20
You can create an account on NoCoAlert .org and
18:23
then kind of share the locations that you want
18:26
to receive emergency alerts at. And then you
18:27
can select which notifications to receive. But
18:30
yeah, all notifications in the county for emergency
18:33
alerts are through NoCoAlert .org. So, you know,
18:36
just to kind of wrap up here, do you have any
18:38
advice for people who may be looking for ways
18:40
to volunteer in their communities? Yeah, I think
18:42
in my experience, just in volunteering. You know,
18:48
with youth, with different community organizations,
18:51
with different community members, it's been cool
18:55
to just learn from folks. At the beginning, I
18:58
didn't know maybe a lot of folks, a lot of organizations.
19:03
But yeah, back when I was playing soccer, even
19:06
in college and professionally, it was more of
19:11
volunteering with the organizations that I was
19:15
exposed to. So it was school districts and boys
19:18
and girls clubs. And so that's kind of how I
19:21
started. I just kind of volunteered with the
19:23
organizations that I knew of at the time. So
19:25
if folks know of, you know, one or two organizations
19:28
that they're interested in that are around their
19:30
neighborhoods and their community, that's a great
19:33
way to get involved and get started because you'll
19:36
be surprised about all the amazing work that
19:38
they're doing and the work that they do to help
19:40
others. So, yeah, if you know of, you know, it
19:43
doesn't take much to start. maybe checking in
19:46
with your local organization that you're curious
19:48
about that are doing great work in your community
19:51
starting there. And then you never know what
19:53
other connections, what other organizations are
19:55
also doing work outside of that piece. Yeah,
19:59
the biggest thing I think is maybe just trying
20:01
it out. Trying it out if you haven't volunteered
20:03
yet. It's really cool to see the work that people
20:06
do to help others and the way that they do it
20:08
genuinely and then the fun that there is in it
20:11
too. That's great advice. And I guess one final
20:14
question before we finish for today. World Cup
20:17
this year. Any teams that you're watching in
20:19
particular? Oh, of course. Mexico, of course.
20:24
U .S. Definitely probably my two top ones that
20:29
I'll watch. And then there's the big teams too,
20:32
you know, the Germany, the Brazil, the Italy,
20:35
Netherlands, Argentina. So good. So, yeah, I
20:39
could chat with you about soccer all day. But,
20:41
yeah, really excited for the World Cup. Fantastic.
20:45
Well, Ricardo, thank you so much for joining
20:46
us. We really appreciate you taking the time.
20:48
Of course. Until next week, stay well, stay connected,
20:51
and remember we really are healthier together.
20:55
you