Waiting for Health Equity

NOTA: Waiting for Health Equity ahora disponible en español

About Waiting for Health Equity

Today, we can accurately predict a Coloradan’s health based on factors like their race, income, or ZIP Code. This is unacceptable. It means that people of color, Coloradans with less economic opportunity, those living in communities with fewer resources, and others, face increased barriers to good health simply due to their life circumstances. How did this happen?

Colorado—just like the rest of the US—has a long, well-documented history of oppressive policies and practices. Consequently, some Coloradans face significant, persistent, and preventable health disparities, or differences in health outcomes across certain groups. Therefore, we must understand the root causes of these injustices, such as institutional racism (the policies and practices within institutions that, intentionally or not, produce outcomes that negatively impact people of color) and poverty, in order to tackle them. Waiting for Health Equity is a graphic novel that aims to start new conversations about the complex challenges Colorado faces in working toward health equity.

If you would like to hear more from our characters and learn more about starting conversations about health equity, click here.

Reviews of Waiting for Health Equity

“This graphic novel is genius. I am so excited to learn more about this.” – E.R., Creative Research Communication

“Thank you for taking a different approach to telling the story about healthy equity, access, disparities, and income. It is such a critical story that most people simple do not understand.” – K.K., The Denver Foundation

“I was never very fond of comic books when I was a kid, but if I ever come across the graphic representations of heavier topics in my adult life I retain so much more information that way than reading it or having someone tell me the info.” – Anonymous

“I felt like I was personally involved in their stories. This is one of the finest documents on the internet that’s been produced in ages, and it brought tears to my eyes.” – D.B., Safe to Learn

Facilitated Discussions

Waiting for Health Equity is one tool to start discussions about health equity and the root causes of health inequities. We are also available to come to your group’s meeting, present on health inequities and Waiting for Health Equity, and facilitate a discussion. These conversations help increase collective understanding of the issues, which then lead to potential action steps to address them.

We recommend Waiting for Health Equity for high school age students and adults of all backgrounds and interests. Use it as a standalone read and or in tandem with other health equity learning materials. In addition, it works for small group discussions, live performances, reflective writing exercises, and many other educational formats.

Use these supplementary materials to structure your conversations:

For more information or to request a printed copy, please contact our Director of Communications, Sarah McAfee.