Aspen Valley Hospital gives the gift of good health to community

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Deborah Breen, President & CEO Aspen Valley Hospital Foundation

At Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH), especially during this special time of year, thoughts often turn to all of the progress completed to date, and the many people who have made that progress possible.

Construction completed to date has been very well received, allowing several clinical services to move into space that meets growing volume trends and accommodates new technology at the bed- side. These new facilities also align with today’s standards of privacy, efficiency and comfort, something that our patients need and deserve.

The project has been carved into distinct phases to allow funding to keep pace with project costs, while also ensuring that no area is left partially completed before moving on with the next phase. Funding has been from three sources:

• the hospital’s own equity
• proceeds from a general obligation bond
• a $60 million philanthropic campaign

The first two phases of construction addressed several outpatient areas (PT/OT, Cardiac Rehab, and Oncology, to name a few) as well as all of the inpatient areas — our 4-bed intensive care unit, our 16-bed patient care unit, and our 5-bed maternity unit, which combined, comprise our 25 total beds. As a side note, 25 beds is a bit of a magic number as that is the threshold that allows us to maintain our Critical Access Hospital (CAH) status. We are one of about 1300 CAHs nationally, and have recently ranked amongst the top 100 in the country.

We are now in the third phase of the master facilities project, the phase that will house the Resnick Family Emergency Department, trauma services, diagnostic imaging and surgical services. Once those departments move into their new homes one year from now, renovations immediately begin in the vacated space, allowing for construction of the women’s imaging center, the operating rooms, the lab and medical office space. Following completion of those project components the plan is to move seamlessly into the fourth and final phase — a phase that is 100% dependent on philanthropy.

It has been 40 years since the hospital has undertaken a major building project and launched a significant fundraising campaign. With $36 million of the needed $60 million in hand, we hope to inspire others in our community to step forward and be part of this quality-of-life project. The changes are dramatic and will support healthcare for generations to come.