Happy New Year! | A Message from CEO Dave Ressler

As we enter a new year and the midpoint of the decade, my thoughts turn to Aspen Valley Hospital’s place in our local history. We have, after all, been owned by, supported and proudly serving our community since 1891. As a not-for-profit, community-owned resource for the past 134 years, we have one purpose on which we are laser focused—extraordinary healthcare.

Our community expects, deserves and receives the highest quality of healthcare including Colorado certified trauma services, world-class orthopedics and spine care, essential specialties and whole-person primary care. Healthcare is the cornerstone of quality of life in any community and even more in an active and vibrant community like ours. As you will learn, our patients rate their experience as 5-star and consistently among the top 5% of hospitals in the country. And we provide safe and effective care with complications and infections among the lowest in the industry.

Yet, achieving and sustaining this standard of care requires the collective support of those we serve.

Since the mid 90’s, Aspen Valley Hospital has been a not-for-profit, special district that has received voter approval to provide property tax support seven times, without fail and with a wide margin. We interpret this community support as an affirmation that our services are necessary and appreciated. We also have received over $60 million in philanthropic support since 2013 when we initiated our capital campaign to support our facilities’ modernization and expansion. We simply could not be the healthcare lifeline for our community, in the way our community needs us, without the strong financial support that we receive. We are grateful to be a part of our community’s history and its future.

Because our only reason for existence is to serve our patients and to keep our community healthy, our monthly enewsletters, Healthy Journey magazine and our February Healthy Journey Symposium will continue to provide you with information and resources that explain how we can help you live your best life. In this issue, you will learn about the realities of consuming alcoholic drinks, and we offer some ideas for making sure that your relationship with alcohol is as healthy as it can be. And because healthcare is only accessible if it is affordable, we provide a last reminder about the concluding open enrollment period for Connect for Health Colorado’s online insurance marketplace.

We are also excited to announce we have a new relationship with Mountain Radiology and Radiology Partners, our physicians who read and interpret our images (x-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, etc.), and who provide interventional procedures utilizing our imaging equipment, such as for biopsies. We now share the same group of local physicians with Valley View, a key referral partner for us, and Grand River Health in Rifle. This will increase the level of coordination and integration within our valley healthcare community, to better serve our patients.

We are privileged to be a part of your past and your future.

Dave