Council agrees o cers in schools necessary

to get that done. We started the process of getting the school resource o cers grant,” Fort Lupton Police Chief Fryar told councilors during their April 11 town hall meeting.

Fryar asked councilors whether they wanted to apply for a grant to pay for the o cer.

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Fort Lupton City Council members agreed that the school district should get a third school resource o cer.

“We will be developing for that position beginning of the next school year and SRO would probably cover Twombly Elementary.”

Since the discussion occurred during a study session, the City Council took no action.

“We can’t use it to supplant funding that has already been set aside, in case the school district and library are paying SRO, “ Fryar said.

Fryar discussed with council members about the grant used for short-term and long-term covering an SRO position for up to three years.

A previous report from Colorado’s Maternal Mortality Committee found the leading cause of maternal death was suicide, followed by accidental overdose.

A recently released national report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the maternal death rate increased by nearly 40% from 2020 to 2021 and was 2.6 times higher for Black women compared with white women. e increase was attributed in part to the e ects of the COVID pandemic, including isolation.

“In the process of law, we are trying to gure out all the alternatives e School Resource O cer is a sworn o cer assigned to a school to deter trespassers, keep students safe and investigate violations. Chief

“If we get the school district to pay less money then we’d have to come

“We are equivalent to a ird World nation in terms of our maternal health,” said Lily Griego, regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke Wednesday to Colorado Medicaid o cials and nonpro t

Every year before Thanksgiving, First United Methodist Church in Fort Lupton and the Fort Lupton Food and Clothing Bank provide community members with food boxes. This will be the program’s 10th consecutive year. Above, Joe Hubert, left China Garcia and Sue Hubert with Change 4 Change, another organization that helps with the food drive. See more on Page 2.

SEE RISING, P2 advocates who want more equitable maternal health care. “Most folks are in shock about this.” e number of Colorado babies born chemically dependent on opioids and other drugs rose by 31% in one year, keeping with a national trend that has seen the rate of “neonatal abstinence syndrome” climb in the past decade. About 3.8% of newborns in 2020 whose mothers were on the government insurance program for Coloradans with low income were born with chemical dependency. at was up from 2.9% in 2019. e number of Medicaid patients who received screening for substance abuse or addiction treatment was also low. Statewide, just 49 pregnant people had such a screen, but Medicaid o cials believe that’s also an undercount since doctors don’t often submit claims for a separate, 15-minute substance abuse screening.

Colorado’s report from the state Medicaid division had other grim news, too.

Nationally, the number of addicted newborns jumped 82% from 2010 to 2017.

Colorado is working with the federal Medicaid department on a ve-year, $4.6 million program to provide better services for pregnant women who are addicted to opioids. e program sites are Denver Health, River Valley Family Health Centers in Montrose and Southern Colorado Harm Reduction Association in Pueblo.

Also, only 8.2% of pregnant people received a prenatal screening for depression, according to 2020 Medicaid data. at’s an undercount, however, because many patients likely received a screening for depression but it was not captured in the system because doctors’ o ces often don’t bill for that as a separate service, Medicaid o cials said.

An analysis of claims data found that out of 4,405 births, about 17% of patients received at least one behavioral health visit.

Colorado now allows all pregnant people to continue their Medicaid coverage for 12 months after giving birth, regardless of whether they meet the income eligibility requirements. Medicaid o cials said the new policy is key to lowering the maternal death rate, including by making sure new parents have access to mental health treatment.

Prior to the change, people maintained coverage for just 60 days after giving birth.

Additional reforms include Medicaid coverage for doulas beginning next year. State o cials also are considering eliminating coverage re- strictions at birthing centers, which are operated by midwives. More women are seeking to give birth in a birthing center instead of a hospital, an alternative that grew more popular during the coronavirus pandemic. e number of people who chose to give birth in a birth center rose almost 19% from 2019 to 2020.

Prenatal care visits remained stable from 2019 to 2020, with 76% of pregnant women receiving care in the rst three months of pregnancy. Black patients were less likely to receive care, at 70%. And Native Hawaiian and other Paci c Islander people were the least likely to see a doctor in the rst trimester, at 58%. up with any preceding years. Regarding the grants, we’re rst liable for the two-thirds; the grant does not cover two-thirds,” Fryar said.

Chief Fryar said it creates an obligation for the city to do that with a grant of about $40,000. e position costs the city about $72,000 for the salary and bene ts.

“ e grant should only a ect things we have in place now, and this is thinking forward. And it’s worthwhile to have an o cer at all four of our schools, such as high school, middle school, elementary but Twombly is su cient,” Chief Fryar said.

Chief Fryar said we rather have one in each school. e district is paying for that, and they may pay next time.

“We can’t depend on that as far as proceeding with the grant,” Chief Fryar said.

Fryar said the district is covering Homyak PK-8 and Twombly, an expensive proposition for the for the school district.

“ is grant doesn’t come around often. I don’t think I’ve seen an SRO grant for the last 10 years. I don’t know if there’s going to be one next year,” Fryar said.

Fryar said we can always turn the grant down, but said there a brief window to apply. Grant applications must be led May 11 with a decision expected by July 1 this year. For federal grants, it is a very compressed cycle.

“ e school district is already coming up with $180,000 for the 23-24 school year. So, I can’t see them coming with another $75,000 to 80,000 to nish this out, so I don’t know if it will occur,” Fryar said.

City Administrator Chris Cross told councilors that if they’re not willing