It's easy to look back at the last 30 years of the Health District and take pride in our accomplishments.

Northern Colorado has seen enormous health-care changes over the past three decades, and the Health District has adapted to meet evolving community needs.

When government policy developments resulted in greatly expanded access to health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, the Health District launched new services, such as Larimer Health Connect, ensuring that more residents would benefit from the opportunities. And when the availability of primary care increased in the community, the Health District also pivoted, retiring its mobile health unit that had provided basic health care.

The Health District has often served as a catalyst, assessing the current landscape and convening local players to engage in coordinated community planning around issues such as behavioral health care.

The agency has even joined in the community response to major crises — fires, floods, and an unprecedented pandemic.

Envisioning what the next 30 years will bring is challenging. Larimer County is expected to grow by more than 30 percent in coming decades, reaching a population of nearly a half million by 2050. New health-care challenges are assured.

The community leaders who founded the Health District in 1960 were visionaries. So was the elected board of directors that set the agency on its present path in 1994.

Now our current board members, our staff, the community organizations we partner with, and the clients we serve daily all raise us up to see the way forward to a healthier future. By listening to the community and responding to needs, the Health District will ensure that its next 30 years will be as impactful as the last.