Completing Our 20-year Transformation

Aspen Valley Hospital is gearing up to begin work on the final phase of our Master Facilities Plan (MFP), which will update and transform the main entrance, centralize our patient registration services and improve patient flows by connecting the two major pavilions on the east and west sides of the Hospital.

Stepping into the Future

The MFP has been a 20-year project to modernize the Hospital and overhaul how healthcare is delivered which, like other healthcare facilities across the country, continues to shift many services from inpatient to outpatient care. Completion of the MFP helps ensure AVH remains a vital community resource and a strong, independent hospital that serves the current and future healthcare needs of residents of Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley.

This exciting update to the front of the Hospital is expected to be completed in spring of 2025. If you have visited recently, you would see that construction fencing has now closed the main entrance to foot traffic to allow for construction staging. All patients are being asked to enter the Hospital through the east entrance, closest to Castle Creek Road, unless you need to access the emergency room entrance. Some parking near the west side of the Hospital also been reduced to accommodate the construction footprint, however, you will still find ample parking available for emergency room patients and family.

Not everything is changing, at least in the short term. Hospital registration will remain where it is currently located.

“Phase IV is the final piece of a large puzzle that we have been assembling since 2006 when we started Phase I, with obstetrics expansion,” says Aspen Valley Hospital CEO Dave Ressler. “With the completion of this final phase, we will literally and logistically tie our facilities together.”

Looking Back at Previous Changes

The first three phases of the MFP have had significant impacts on our hospital facilities and the types and levels of service provided, touching nearly every department. The expansion has allowed the Hospital to employ best practices by creating the space and infrastructure for state-of-the-art treatments and technologies.

A timeline of the work completed as a result of the Master Facilities Plan illustrates the significant milestones completed over the years:

• 2005 – The initial vision for the MFP was established by the Board of Directors and initial planning began.
• 2006-07 – Phase I resulted in the expansion of the Hospital’s obstetrics department which was renamed the Aspen Birth Center.
• 2010-15 – Phase II included construction of employee housing units, a multi-level parking garage, the Evelyn H. Lauder Patient Care Pavilion with 16 private inpatient rooms, and the rehabilitation services and orthopaedic clinic spaces.
• 2015-17 – Phase III completed the Resnick Family Emergency Department, the Marian and Ralph Melville Oncology and Infusion Center, the helipad and the Lester and Renee Crown Outpatient Care Pavilion.
• 2024 – Phase IV begins on the Hospital’s front entrance and centralized registration area, which will provide better wayfinding and connectivity. Target completion date is spring of 2025.

“The work done through the Master Facilities Plan has enabled AVH to transition from a hospital that was primarily an inpatient facility to a comprehensive provider of healthcare services,” Ressler says. “We are truly a healthcare campus with many physician offices onsite so our patients can access our full spectrum of medical care.”

Community Impacts

Construction crews are taking steps to limit the noise and dust impacts of the work. During demolition there will be unavoidable noise impacts to the registration area, but a temporary wall with insulation will help reduce disruptions. Also, HVAC systems will be isolated in the construction area to protect occupied areas of the hospital from dust generated by the work.

A celebration is being planned for next year once the full Master Facilities Plan transformation is complete.