Editor's Note: Throughout the year, RED's Changemakers series features students, faculty, staff, alumni, and active citizens who are pioneers of Colorado's success in their communities. Are you (or someone you know) a changemaker?Please share your story.
Julianna Montoya has experienced the best and worst of Colorado's health care system.
In 2016, her maternal grandfather fell from a 12-foot ladder and was taken to Denver Health Medical Center on Colorado Airlines Flight for Life. He wasn't expected to survive, but he did. He was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer and is undergoing treatment with excellent insurance and care from his medical providers.
Conversely, after Montoya's aunt developed liver cancer, what started as a treatable disease progressed without insurance, primary care, or access to diagnostic testing. She passed away in 2017.
“This cannot become the norm in situations where patients cannot reliably access or avoid health care,” Montoya said. “And some people are at risk of not being taken seriously because our system is so overwhelmed or unfair.”
Related: Looking to the future of healthcare
Montoya is on a mission to end the health care disparities that impact her family. And students at Metropolitan State University of Denver have found a partner in their cause with a university organization. Health Research Institute. The Institute is a collaboration of 10 academic departments and a student-centered workforce partnership built on a commitment to addressing the social determinants of equity disparities in health care. More than 60% of students enrolled at the institute this fall are students of color, and he believes this enrollment trend means that by 2030, Colorado will have more than 4,100 health care workers of color. It should help them join the state's workforce.
From the moment she took her first class with Dr. Erin Seedorf, assistant professor in the School of Health Professions, Montoya, who is double majoring in public health and biology, knew she was on the right path. I was there. And her determination was strengthened as she participated in numerous health institute programs. As a participant in the Healthcare Interest Program, Montoya observed practitioners at Denver Health's Sam Sandos Westside Family Health Center on Federal Boulevard.
“It was impressive. All the patients looked like me,” Montoya said. “Plus, I overheard her mothers saying to her daughters, 'Have you met her?' That could be you someday.”
“I’m just so grateful to be in that space and help other people realize that they belong.”
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Montoya currently works as a peer health educator at the Girls Athletic Leadership School in Denver, where she helps connect students to mental health and sexual wellness resources, and as a Bank of America Scholar, where she researches health access and health in the Latinx community. We focus on our commitment to equity. She also works as a certified medical assistant at Auraria Health Center and Colorado Access Health will help support her career pipeline program.
Balancing can be a challenge for students. But Montoya remains determined to be a change agent in health equity, with goals of attending graduate school and becoming a physician assistant.
“Public health brings us all together, and I love that,” Montoya said. “And I will never forget that we are sending patients back to their families and having them tell stories that will shape their healthcare experience.”
