Culture of Caring

Behind Aspen Valley Hospital’s National Recognition for Patient Experience

When you ask Dave Ressler about Aspen Valley Hospital’s recent Press Ganey awards 2024 for excellence in patient experience, the CEO doesn’t start with statistics or benchmarks. Instead, he shares a simple story from the hospital’s hallway.

“I watched an employee break off a conversation to ask a patient if they knew where they were going, and if they could help them find their way,” Ressler recalls. “That patient was headed to a department that had nothing to do with the employee in the hallway; they just wanted to make sure every patient and visitor gets what they need. That’s what happens every moment of every day.”

This seemingly small gesture exemplifies the culture that earned AVH both the Pinnacle of Excellence Award® and Guardian of Excellence Award® for patient experience from Press Ganey, placing it among the top 5% of healthcare providers nationally. The recognition spans multiple departments, including urgent care, emergency care and inpatient services.

“Culture doesn’t just happen incidentally—and it doesn’t happen overnight,” Ressler emphasizes. “Culture is the result of a disciplined and purposeful effort on the part of an entire organization from the board through every member of the staff and every physician to achieve a common purpose.”

What makes AVH’s approach unique is the seamless blend of sophisticated medical capabilities with small-town, personalized care. “It’s like family taking care of family,” Ressler explains. “Our staff are part of our community, taking care of the community. There’s a level of connectedness and attentiveness that can’t be replicated in a large environment.”

This culture of caring is particularly evident in how the hospital serves both locals and international visitors. The workforce itself reflects the community’s diversity, with staff and physicians from various nationalities and backgrounds. “We find that diversity lends itself to a much more rich cultural environment,” notes Ressler.

Perhaps most telling is the connection between employee satisfaction and patient experience. “Employee experience drives patient experience,” Ressler states, pointing out that staff consistently report their highest satisfaction scores in areas related to pride in their work and the care patients receive.

But don’t just take Ressler’s word for it, or even the validation of the Press Ganey awards. There are more than 750 anecdotes via Google Reviews, directly from patients about their time at Aspen Valley Hospital. Almost without exception, each one expresses gratitude for the staff. The accounts vary widely in terms of experiences—from hip and back surgeries to mammograms to bringing in a child ill with pneumonia—but they share a similar vocabulary. Words like “caring,” “compassionate” and “informative” emerge regularly in describing the nurses, physicians, technicians and surgeons that play the heroes of the stories.

But being an everyday hero takes a lot of work, and it’s easy to forget to take a moment to celebrate. So, winning national recognition serves as an excellent reminder to pause, if only briefly, to reflect on the mission and recognize a job well done. “In addition to the recent Press Ganey awards, AVH also earned a Five-Star Rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for Patient Experience along with the 2024 Performance Leadership Award for Excellence in Patient Perspective from The Chartis Center for Rural Health,” beams Jennifer Slaughter, AVH Chief Growth and Marketing Officer. “It’s been an exceptionally fulfilling couple of weeks around here.”

The awards commemorate sustained excellence over multiple years, a testament to what Ressler calls the “consistent thread of pride and culture that is passed down from generation to generation of staff.” Even through challenges like COVID-19 and the subsequent healthcare staffing crisis, this foundation has remained strong.

“These awards are a function of culture,” Ressler concludes, likening healthcare to a team sport. “Like football, you might have a quarterback and receiver who get credit for a 50-yard touchdown pass, but it takes an entire team—coaches, trainers, transportation people—to make it happen. Every person who puts on an ID badge here, even those whose faces a patient may never see, is instrumental in making sure every patient gets the care they need.”

For AVH, these awards aren’t just recognition of past excellence, they’re motivation for the future. They celebrate every team member’s contribution to creating an environment where exceptional care isn’t just a goal, but a daily reality, delivered one personal interaction at a time.