Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center joins Hummingbird Initiative to help address mental health care shortage

The Hummingbird Initiative is a joint effort by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (CU Anschutz) and the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) to address the impending shortage of 36,000 health care professionals in Colorado by 2026.

For Veterans, prioritizing mental health care can strengthen wellbeing, create healing and help them live a full and meaningful life. Specialized mental health care access is crucial for assisting Veterans in readjusting to civilian life, managing mental and physical health and accessing support networks to reduce the risk of suicide.

“By participating in the Hummingbird Initiative, we hope to cultivate a pipeline of mental health care professionals adept to Veterans’ unique mental health care needs,” said Dr. Katie Bakes, the medical director of the Hummingbird Initiative at Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC.

In 2023, VA provided mental health care services to over 1.7 million Veterans, helping to address the unique challenges they face due to service-related stress and trauma, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.

The initiative also seeks to increase diversity in mental health care by training high school students from various ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to become mental health care professionals.

“We’re ensuring VA reflects the diversity of the communities we serve,” said Dr. Bakes. “This helps to address disparities because patients are more likely to trust and seek help from doctors who understand and can relate to their background and experiences.”

The partnership could benefit Veterans in the future by providing a better-trained and more compassionate workforce, ready to meet their mental health care needs. This workforce may potentially include high schoolers being trained through the Mockingbird Initiative. Students will not provide direct patient care.

The year-long initiative is open to high school students in grades nine through 12 enrolled in one of the six participating Colorado high schools in Denver, Aurora or the San Luis Valley. Students must complete an application and interview before being accepted.

Students accepted into the Hummingbird Initiative receive training in PTSD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), substance use disorders, depression and anxiety.

Students will also complete medical terminology, anatomy and physiology, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), patient privacy, personal protection and professionalism training. They must pass all competencies before rotating and shadowing with VA professionals.

The Hummingbird Initiative allows students to earn stacking degrees, which means getting a certification first, then an associate degree and then a bachelor’s degree. Every student will have the chance to enroll in a certified nurse assistant (CNA), medical assistant (MA) or emergency medical technician (EMT) program, which is often required for entry-level positions in mental health care careers.

Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center’s involvement in the Hummingbird Initiative is a continuation of how VA prioritizes and helps prepare the next generation of health care providers. VA also trains around 120,000 Health Professions Trainees (HPTs) each year. VA collaborates with over 1,800 educational institutions and 97% of all U.S. medical schools to provide comprehensive training programs for HPTs.

To view this and other news releases visit News Releases | VA Eastern Colorado Health Care | Veterans Affairs

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