Letter: Medical mentors

To those of you at Aspen Valley Hospital, I wanted to share my immense gratitude for allowing me into your world. It is always an honor watching you work in the emergency and operating rooms. Your professionalism, expertise and passion are unmatched and provided an invaluable learning opportunity for this eager engineering student. To those of you who put up with me the most — Dr. Leelee von Stade; Dr. Catherine Bernard; nurse Katie Mitchell; Dr. Jon Beck; Dr. Natasha Knight; physician assistants Sean Nevin and Matt Byers; Dr. Tomas Pevny; Dr. Mark Purnell; and, of course, Joe High — thank you! You are all wonderful teachers and mentors and an inspiration. I’ll leave you with one of my favorite sayings: Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn. Thank you for letting me experience a few days in the life.

When I grow up, I want to be like you.

Ilona Schwarz

Aspen