It’s Voting Season at Aspen Valley Hospital! | A Message from CEO Dave Ressler

Since 1891, when the miners first contributed a day’s wages (about $3.50) to the campaign that helped build the first Citizens’ Hospital, we have been serving our community as your community hospital. There are not many organizations in our modern world with such a deeply rooted sense of purpose as we have at AVH. Our mission to provide extraordinary healthcare in an environment of excellence, compassion and trust is a guiding beacon for all our staff and physicians.

Our board of directors is elected by the community to ensure we meet our community’s health and healthcare needs. Board members are elected by the registered voters within our district, which is geographically overlapped with Pitkin County, with the exception that our district does not include Redstone, but it does include the communities above Ruedi Reservoir, including Meredith and Thomasville. Per Colorado statutes, all special districts (including Aspen Valley Hospital District) are now held every odd year on the first Tuesday in May. We have five board members who serve 4-year terms that are staggered, such that three seats are up for election in one election cycle (2025), and the other two seats come up the following election cycle (2027), and so on.

This year, we have four of our five seats up for reelection because one of our board members, Dr. Greg Balko, stepped down in 2024 after moving out of the district and was no longer eligible. John Sarpa was appointed by the board to serve until the next election cycle, which is this year. He is running unopposed for the remaining two years of the original term. The other three seats currently held by David Eisenstat, Chuck Frias and Lee Schumacher are open this year as well, with all three incumbent members, along with Dr. Joe Ruzbarsky, on the ballot.

The vote is being conducted by our Designated Election Official, Andrea Shaffran. She expects ballots to be printed and mailed to eligible voters within the district between April 14 and 21. Ballots must be returned by mail or dropped in the district ballot box located at the east entrance of the hospital, by May 6. If you have any questions, please contact Andrea at 970.544.1261 or ashaffran@aspenhospital.org.

I am thankful for this opportunity to briefly explain our board election process because we believe it is important for our patients and community to know we are here for one purpose only, which is to serve our community. Our board is elected by the community to guide the services we provide, and how we provide them. We are ranked among the best hospitals in the country for our patient experience and the quality of our care, with numerous awards announced earlier this year. This is the expectation that our board has set for us to achieve year over year, which we have for many years. And the community has, in turn, provided the funding we need, through property taxes and philanthropy, to survive and thrive as an independent, not-for-profit hospital in a challenging healthcare environment (85% of rural Colorado hospitals don’t have sustainable margins). We are grateful for our community’s support.

Happy spring and AVH election season!

Dave