A Chicana healthcare activist and healer, Charlene Barrientos Ortiz has made a career out of advocating for communities of color since the HIV epidemic hit Denver back in 80s. During that time she witnessed inequities in healthcare and today is working to break barriers that surfaced during COVID for minority groups. She shared with I Am Denver how her Indigenous roots inspire her public health work.
Charlene's mother
Charlene with AIDS quilt
Charlene and her daughter
Charlene and her kids
Charlene's family holiday card
Charlene, her mom & her sister in 1967
Charlene in Washington D.C.
Charlene and Dolores Huerta