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Mindy Nagle: Continuing a presence

John Colson
The Aspen Times
Aspen CO, Colorado
Nagle
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ASPEN ” Dr. Mindy Nagle hopes to become one of the two physicians serving on the Aspen Valley Hospital board of directors, because of her feeling that it is important that there “continues to be a physician’s presence on the board.”

Nagle is one of seven candidates running for as seat on the board of the hospital district, which follows the same basic boundaries at Pitkin County with the exception of the Crystal and Fryingpan river valleys. The other candidates are real estate broker Chuck Frias, paramedic and businesswoman Deborah Hutchinson, Mink, retired attorneys David Missner and Mark Rothman, and attorney Albert Slap.



Nagle, 40, was a tennis pro at the Maroon Creek Club for her first three years in Aspen, from 1990 to 1993. But she left to go to medical school in New York Medical College in New York City, followed by residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.

She has been an obstetrician-gynocologist in Aspen since returning in July 2001, and has served as the chair of her department at AVH for the last two years, followed by two years as vice president of the Medical Executive Committee.




After incumbent board member Scott Balko decided not to seek re-election, she said, he contacted Nagle and asked her to run. She agreed with him that having a doctor on the board is important in order to ensure there is “a patient-care focus” in the board’s decision making.

Nagle has no particular policy or operational goals she would like to pursue with regard to how AVH does business, she said, because, “On an operational standpoint, the hospital is doing very well. My interest is to make sure it keeps going in the direction it’s going.”

That includes a concentration on providing good patient care, as well as working to ensure that the hospital’s $100 million expansion and renovation plans move ahead.

Beyond that, she said, “I think the board’s job is to be sure you have the right people in place for operations. After that, you back off from the micromanaging” and become a liaison between the hospital staff and the public.

She said the hospital’s relations with the residents of the district are in good shape, declaring, “I think you have transparency in the board’s meetings” and the administration is open to public scrutiny.

Though she is single and has no children to soak up her leisure time, Nagle acknowledged that she has a very busy practice. She said she will make sure to carve out the time needed to do the director’s work.

“It’s worth it to make that time, to make sure that patients’ needs are addressed,” Nagle said.

And she conceded that many of the candidates seem to mirror each other in their views of how the hospital is doing and how it should proceed into its future, making the electoral choice difficult for voters. She called the candidates “a great group of people,” indicating that in her view, any of the candidates is well qualified to serve on the board.

jcolson@aspentimes.com