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The Archuleta County Public Health Department is raising awareness about the dangers of tobacco and nicotine use. Recently, Lacy Capre from the Archuleta County Public Health Department gave a presentation to the Healthy Archuleta team members on the history, evolution, health impacts, and current marketing of tobacco products.
Today's tobacco products include combustible products (cigarettes, cigars), dissolvables (chew, packets), electronic nicotine products (vapes), and heated tobacco delivery products. These products vary in nicotine levels, with vapes (up to 50 mg/ml of nicotine) and pouches (up to 14 mg of nicotine) delivering significantly more nicotine than cigarettes (1.5 - 3mg). Commercial tobacco products are designed to be highly addictive and pose various health risks, including cancer and COPD. Contrary to some beliefs, vapes, and pouches do not help reduce nicotine addiction; they increase it. All tobacco products are legally available in Colorado for those 21 and older, but many are marketed to attract younger consumers, including on social media. By becoming aware of the dangers of commercial tobacco products, especially to our youth, we can help educate our families, friends, and our community to understand how the use of tobacco products adversely affects our health. To combat tobacco addiction, resources like the Colorado Quitline https://www.coquitline.org/en-US (for ages 15+), Baby & Me Tobacco Free https://babyandmetobaccofree.org/ (for pregnant women), My Life My Quit www.mylifemyquit.com (for ages 12-17), and the American Indian Commercial Tobacco Program https://wy-americanindian.quitlogix.org/en-us/ are available. Community support is encouraged through participation in Take Down Tobacco Day on April 1st, with a tobacco-free walk being planned in Archuleta County. For more information, please contact the Archuleta County Public Health Department. Are you interested in local food production? If so, before you go any further, put this date on your calendar – the next Growers & Producers Forum is on March 24th from 4-5:30 at the Library. The presentation, Strategies for Growing Food at Altitude – Greenhouse and Beyond is by Chris Frederics of Terra Walk Farm. Chris has years of experience behind him and we will come away with many new learnings about growing; that is one purpose of the Growers & Producers Forum; there are others.
The Forum also encourages networking and the sharing of opportunities and challenges. Creating a vital local food system in our area will take significant individual effort as well as community support. The Forum also welcomes the inexperienced or the frustrated grower/producer, folks who face obstacles on the way to achieving their dreams. Should you know someone who fits that description, invite them to come along. Meanwhile, hope to see you at the Forum on Monday the 24th! Healthy Archuleta is also seeking community input into the development of a food hub and wants to hear from you. Way back in 2017, before Healthy Archuleta came into being, we heard mention of a food hub during our gatherings to talk about healthy local food. Later, Healthy Archuleta created the Food Distribution Center to collect, store, and distribute food for the seven food pantries. But we realized that was only part of the story of a food hub. In fact, we understand that a food hub can be many things, and it is up to the community to decide what exactly it should be for them. Healthy Archuleta has developed a questionnaire to learn from the community about how they could use a community food hub. To share your voice, please take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire and let us know what you would find valuable in our community. From that, Healthy Archuleta will create a vision for the future and work to find funding to realize that vision. The Food Hub Questionnaire can be completed at https://bit.ly/4kvT2jL. Primary care is the backbone of community health. It’s all about prevention, wellness check-ups, and treating common illnesses. Your regular doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider is your primary care buddy. They’re the ones who catch health issues we might miss, notice subtle changes, and ask, “How are you really doing?” They know us well and can tell when something’s off.Archuleta County has a variety of options for primary care. If you already have a provider, an annual wellness visit is a great way to review your health and wellness, make sure you’re up to date on screenings, and chat about your health goals.If you don’t have a provider yet, there are several healthcare organizations that can help you find one. Setting up an annual wellness visit with your new provider is a great way to build a relationship and learn more about your health and wellness. Want to boost your health and well-being? Check out the annual Health Fair & Expo in October! It’s a great place to get affordable wellness tests, connect with your primary care provider, and learn more about health and wellness.
Now’s the perfect time to schedule your annual wellness check-up, chat with your doctor, and set the stage for a healthy year ahead. For more info on primary care in Archuleta County, visit Healthy Archuleta’s website at https://www.foodcoalition4archuleta.org/primary-health-care-access.html. On Saturday February 22 community members and visitors came together to support our neighbors who access food through the Food Pantry Network during one of Healthy Archuleta’s quarterly food drives hosted at City Market. Over 525 items were donated during the food drive and distributed among the seven food pantries in Archuleta County. Volunteers from the local food pantries supported the event to hand out shopping lists and collect the requested items for donation. Thank you to everyone who came out to support our neighbors during this food drive. If you missed the food drive, non-perishable items can be donated at any time at Healthy Archuleta’s donation bin located at the UPS Store, 135 Country Center Dr, Suite F.
In addition to supporting our neighbors accessing food at food pantries through quarterly food drives, Healthy Archuleta is also working to support the next generation of local food system champions by engaging with high school students. This semester Healthy Archuleta is engaging youth through two highschool classes, where students have the opportunity to learn about the local food system from, growing and producing food to eating nutritious foods and all the elements in between. Each week, students are participating in interactive discussions, learning from guest speakers, and engaging in hands-on activities. Some examples of the food system activities the students are participating in include a session on nutrition and learning how to read food labels, followed by a scavenger hunt at Natural Grocers to put the lessons into practice and visiting Healthy Archulet’s Food Distribution Center to learn about hydroponic food production and see the grow towers in action. Healthy Archuleta is committed to advancing a local sustainable and resilient food system that all community members can contribute to and benefit from. Community events, such as food drives, working with youth, and sharing the importance of health and local foods are just some of the ways Healthy Archuleta is working in the local food system. |
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June 2025
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