How many times have you sat down for a few drinks with friends and during the course of the conversation said “We should do something about that” only to let the thought fade by morning? When a group of former employees of The Boulder Abortion Clinic got together to mourn its closing last summer, those words became a promise. The clinic had served the community for 50-years and was one of the last in the country to offer later-term abortion care. Rather than let that legacy disappear, the group vowed to continue the work themselves.

Just five months later, they kept that promise as, on October 14, the RISE Collective opened their doors to their first three patients. 

Alicia Moreno, Executive Director of the RISE Collective, said “When the clinic closed we all said we don’t wanna let this go. So the question was who would be interested in helping put together our own thing?” Without hesitation the doctors, nurses, and support staff, almost to a person, said yes. In total, thirteen members of the old clinic came together to form the RISE Collective. Each one is an owner with an equal vote in the operation and future planning.

“We already were so well versed in what we knew how to do. We had worked together for so long and in really incredible ways,” Moreno said. “Everything else was really just procurement.”

Two organizations spun out of that effort. The RISE Collective offers reproductive care, services, and patient support. The Boulder Collective is a 501c3 created to secure funding and a permanent home for RISE and other care-focused organizations. The funds generated from the building ownership will be used to establish a “Forever Fund” for patient support.

Margie Williams, Board Chair of the Boulder Collective, explained “The Boulder Collective came out of the need for RISE to have a safe and secure place to start working. Based on the history of the way that clinics can, and have been, treated in the past they needed a space where their existence would be secure and safe.”

The Boulder Collective is led by five board members and an advisory board. They are working on obtaining funding through grants and donations.

While Moreno and team worked on getting the new clinic set up they had an opportunity to reflect on how best to serve patient’s needs going forward. 

“We had been doing this work for so long, but in the same way, we wondered what […] needs to be evolved,” Moreno said. They spoke with clinics across the country to learn from their models and assess unmet needs. Moreno noted “We really saw an opportunity to update things that had been created forty, fifty years ago.”

As planning for the new clinic continued, they also listened intently to the needs they were hearing from the community. Moreno said “We got a call from a regional hospital who said ‘Hey our administration is pulling back with us being able to offer gender affirming care to people 19 and under. Would y’all be willing to step up and provide some of this care or provide us with space so that we can provide it, so that care doesn’t have to end?’” 

That’s just one of the new  services under consideration along with the return of contraceptive care. “We did that many years ago but stopped,” Moreno said “but a lot of people are going back to states where they’re not even sure if they’re gonna be able to get reliable contraceptive care. So we’re gonna start addressing that here and now.”

Since announcing the new clinic, Moreno said one question comes up again and again: Why Boulder? “We’re all community members,” she said “Plus there is a historical place carved out in Boulder for this type of care, it’s in our city charter. All of those things are what made us want to stay and continue providing care here.”

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The post Former Boulder Abortion Clinic Staff Rebuild as the RISE Collective appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Proponents of universal healthcare in Colorado are wondering if the governor’s recent actions signal that the third time is truly the charm. One such advocacy group is the Colorado Foundation For Universal Health Care (CO4UHC) who, since 1996, has been advocating for a universal health care plan for all Coloradans. Recent developments at both the state and federal level have given the group both a renewed optimism and a sense of urgency.

The need for change to the healthcare landscape has perhaps never been so pressing. Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill”, which was just passed through the sentence this week, is positioned to drastically alter the country’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The Hill called the cuts to medicaid the largest in US history, and, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many as 100,000 Colorado residents will lose health care coverage. This has added some existential pressure to the work that organizations like CO4UHC are doing.

CO4UHC is focused on advocacy, education, and outreach in Colorado, and the nation at-large, on the topic of universal healthcare. They back an Improved Medicare for All (IM4A) system that would cover the health costs of every resident for every needed service. 

University of Colorado School of Medicine student Kavya Ganuthula has experienced firsthand the shortcomings of the current healthcare system. She told Yellow Scene Magazine “Since the pandemic, we have seen increases in the rates of mental health among youth, and emergency departments across the state have actually faced the issues with needing to “board” these patients while they await further stabilizing therapies at an inpatient facility.”

It’s exactly these kinds of systemic gaps that CO4UHC has been working to address through policy advocacy and statewide organizing. Much of their work is focused on raising public awareness. Sara Wright, Director of Communications at CO4UHC that much of their mission is really about constructing bridges and building consensus.  “I feel like we all need to learn to talk across the divide and listen across the divide,” Wright said “There’s often wisdom on both sides and that all the solutions we can come up with will be stronger if they incorporate wisdom from everyone.”

On June 14, the org held a statewide conference in Lafayette with speakers and breakout sessions designed to help participants become more involved in the cause of universal healthcare. Wright estimates that there were over 1,000 attendees.

Though it may seem surprising, the organization’s original goal was never to be leading the fight for IM4A or policy changes. The organization just aimed to teach people how to navigate the complexities of the healthcare system. They were particularly concerned with cases where there was a clear clash between what doctors recommended and what insurance companies were willing to cover. But over time, it became clear that individual guidance wasn’t enough to overcome the larger systemic barriers. As a result, In 2011 the team rebranded and changed course. Now called the Colorado Foundation for Universal Health Care, the group committed fully to pushing for a universal health care program for Colorado and beyond.

Despite widespread worries about national health care policy, CO4UHC recently secured an important and much-needed win.  On May 23, the Larimer County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution urging United States legislators to support health care “without any restrictions or barriers.” Nearly a week earlier, on May 14, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed SB25-45 which directs the Carter Center for Public Health to create a draft of what legislation providing universal health care in the state would look like. Unlike similar proposals that stalled in the last two legislative sessions, this bill passed with bipartisan support. Although there’s little doubt that CO4UHC’s efforts helped build political momentum around universal health care, they are not the only organization challenging healthcare expectations, either in Colorado or across the country. Wright estimates that groups like theirs are active in “at least 34 states.” Together, all these organizations contributed to this recent victory.

CO4UHC isn’t only focused on lobbying they also provide direct support to their cause. Wright explained “We work with several other organizations as part of the Alliance for Colorado Health Care. Together we will work to fundraise the $750,000 that is needed though SB25-45 to pay for the analysis of the Colorado School of Public Health.” This funding is critical because it will provide the data-driven foundation necessary to design effective, evidence-based universal health care legislation for Colorado.

Right now, CO4UHC believes the biggest barrier to changing the health care system is the misconception that socialized medicine would limit care or freedom. “In fact, it’s just the opposite,” Wright told Yellow Scene.

“When everyone can access care regardless of where they work […], the system is much simpler and more cost effective.”

The post How CO4UHC is Shaking Up Colorado’s Healthcare Scene and Winning Big appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.