Estes Valley Voice Podcast

Hospital board authorizes a 4% market and merit-based salary increase for staff

Story by Suzy Blackhurst

Thirty minutes was all it took to reject two objections made by the Estes Valley Voice and pass the 2025 Estes Park Health’s $63 million budget Friday morning.

The special session of the EPH Board of Directors was called so the board would have time to consider the objections prior to adopting pertinent legal documents associated necessary to conduct business in the coming year. At least 13 members of the public attended the meeting virtually, although 20 had registered to attend.

Comments about the proposed breast imaging center made by resident Gerald Mayo at the Dec. 11 meeting received the majority of comments during the Friday morning session.

Cost for remodeling the imaging area of Estes Park Health is estimated to be $450,000, an amount authorized during the Dec. 3 special meeting. EPH anticipates $200,000 of that amount will be donated by the Estes Park Health Foundation. During Wednesday’s regular board meeting Mayo had suggested that a door lock could solve a stated issue of patients needing privacy for less money than $450,000.

Thirty minutes was all it took to reject two objections made by the Estes Valley Voice and pass the 2025 Estes Park Health’s $63 million budget Friday morning.

The special session of the EPH Board of Directors was called so the board would have time to consider the objections prior to adopting pertinent legal documents associated necessary to conduct business in the coming year. At least 13 members of the public attended the meeting virtually, although 20 had registered to attend.

Comments about the proposed breast imaging center made by resident Gerald Mayo at the Dec. 11 meeting received the majority of comments during the Friday morning session.

Cost for remodeling the imaging area of Estes Park Health is estimated to be $450,000, an amount authorized during the Dec. 3 special meeting. EPH anticipates $200,000 of that amount will be donated by the Estes Park Health Foundation. During Wednesday’s regular board meeting, Mayo had suggested that a door lock could solve a stated issue of patients needing privacy for less money than $450,000.

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Ballet Boulder comes to The Stanley Hotel for three sold-out performances

Feature by Patti Brown

A Sugar Plum Fairy, waltzing flowers, a princely nutcracker, a young girl, magical mice, and a parade of exotic characters from Spain, Arabia, China, and Russia all make Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker a perennial holiday tradition.

The Boulder Ballet will perform excerpts from The Nutcracker Suite at The Stanely Hotel Saturday and Sunday in the Pavilion. The three scheduled performances are sold out.

This is the third year for the special performance on the unique stage which is framed by a glass wall and overlooks a background of boulders, live trees, and a pond of water.

The two-act classical ballet, written and first performed in 1892 in St. Petersburg, Russia, is an adaptation of The Story of a Nutcracker, by Alexandre Dumas written in 1844, and a retelling of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann’s 1816 novella, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Before composing The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky had written The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. The former was hailed as a masterpiece; the latter received harsh reviews.

When the Nutcracker premiered, the reception was mixed. Tchaikovsky’s score was well received, but the choreography was criticized as amateurish. The dance was first performed in the U.S. in 1944 at the San Francisco Ballet and then it found a home in 1954 with the New York City Ballet under the directorship of George Balanchine with prima ballerina Maria Tallchief as the Sugar Plum Fariy.

Over the last 70 years the ballet has been directed by ballet luminaries including Rudolf Nureyev, Yury Grigorovich, and Mikhail Baryshnikov and it has been adapted, reimagined, and reinterpreted by ballet companies across the country.

The Boulder Ballet is under the artistic direction of Ben Needham-Wood.

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“Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning, and the emperor has no clothes on.”

Commentary by Thomas E. Leigh M.D.

Part of the Hippocratic oath is "primum non nocere" -- do no harm.

I recently tried to contact both David Beaty and Corey Workman after the last board meeting and neither returned my calls or emails. So, I am choosing to go public with my concerns.

We could communicate more effectively if the members of the Estes Park Health board would make themselves available to their constituents. But they turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the taxpayers of the Park Hospital District.

Recently I had the opportunity to see the musical Hamilton at the Denver Center for the
Performing Arts. The play spotlights the intellect, vision, and character of this prolific and gifted communicator. It was provocative and made me think about what Hamilton might have to teach us as we navigate our current hospital crisis and pending association with UCHealth.

The contrast between Alexander Hamilton and both the board and administration of Estes Park Health administration could not be greater.

Read full commentary here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/12/12/do-no-harm-doctor-calls-on-eph-board-to-demand-ceos-resignation/

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Company acquires local Caring Hands company to provide continuity of services in the Estes Valley

Story by Patti Brown

Estes Park is often called the “oldest” community in Colorado.

That has nothing to do with when the town was founded – April 17, 1917. Estes is considered the oldest community because more than 50 percent of the population of the community’s population is 60 years of age or older.

Compare that to the entire state – where 16 percent of the population is 65 and older.

And with that claim to fame, the community has some unique healthcare needs, especially since Estes Park Health closed its home healthcare and in-home hospice services a year ago.

To fill some of the void, Senior Helpers, a franchise founded in 2002 in Baltimore, has begun to provide what Gil Atanasoff calls “highly skilled non-medical” services in the Estes Valley including assistance with bathing, dressing, personal care, housekeeping, meal preparation, companionship, transportation to medical appointments, help with errands, and transitioning back home after a stay in a hospital or skilled nursing facility.

The company also can provide respite care so an individual’s care partner can have some relief in order to run errands, go to an appointment, or have some personal time.

Additionally, the company can partner with medical care providers to provide services for more complex needs, said Atanasoff, the owner and executive director of the franchise.

The company expanded to northern Colorado in 2017 and in October acquired Caring Hands, a home healthcare company that was started in 2002 by Rosemary Donahue, a registered nurse who lives in Allenspark.

In an interview with the Estes Valley Voice, Atanasoff said Senior Helpers is providing services to about a dozen clients in the Estes Valley, a third of whom are veterans whose care is funded through the Veterans Administration.

“There are folks that don’t even realize they had some of these benefits,” said Atanasoff. Senior Helpers employs a liaison on their client services team who specializes in helping veterans to figure out their VA benefits.

Services begin with an in-home care assessment to help determine what an individual’s needs are and what their resources are, such as the availability of family support and transportation. The assessment will also look at an individual’s mobility, their cognitive functioning, their medical issues, and their ability to attend to activities of daily living.

There are some things that Senior Helpers does not do. While it can remind a client to take their medication, Senior Helpers does not prepare a medication box, administer medications, or take vitals such as blood pressure readings.

“People that live up here full time want to be able to age in place and stay in their home,” said Atanasoff. Senior Helpers will work with hospice, or a physical or occupational therapist, or with independent nurses in private practice to provide care so someone can stay in their home.

“It’s not uncommon for us to stay with folks through the end of life,” said Atanasoff who stressed the importance of matching the personality of caregivers with clients.

“The company has a special commitment to support those with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s,” said Atanasoff who sits on the board of Dementia Together and has been a supporter of the Parkinson’s Support Group in Larimer County.

To talk to someone at Senior Helpers about services in the Estes Valley, call 970-806-6040.

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Tincture of time and funding are needed to repair a fragile ecosystem

Story by Hank Lacey

On the western edge of Rocky Mountain National Park lies the Kawuneeche Valley, nestled between the Never Summer mountains and the Front Range. Formed by the Colorado River Glacier and historically a home for a diverse spectacle of life, the basin was once a vibrant, wetland-rich ecosystem.

Today, the Kawuneeche — which means the valley of the coyote in the Arapaho language — is experiencing a significant loss of biodiversity.

The National Park Service, working in tandem with a coalition of conservation partners, has set out to reverse that trend. To do so is a complex process that involves three major pieces: beavers, moose, and willow.

And restoration must account, too, for the human presence at RMNP, the extirpation of the ecosystem’s most important predator, and the ongoing and accelerating impacts of climate change...

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/12/07/decline-of-the-kawuneeche-valley-ecosystem-threatens-biodiversity/

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Take the Estes Valley Voice Favorite Snowman Survey and win Pixel, our favorite snowman tucked inside a magical snow globe

Estes Park will celebrate the joy of snow this weekend with a family-friendly Snowman Festival that will kick off at noon Saturday in Bond Park.

The event, coordinated by Visit Este Park, includes a snowman scavenger hunt with more than 50 ceramic snowmen — hidden in plain sight — in retail, restaurant, and lodging facilities around Estes.

The snowmen were made at Creativity Cabin, Estes Park’s local paint-your-own ceramic shop, by a team of artisans. You may spot one tucked into a window display or sitting next to a cash register.

To join in the fun, hunters can pick up a punch card at any of the participating locations (click here for a map) and when you have 20 punches, the card can be exchanged for a commemorative snowman ornament at Simply Christmas while supplies last — one prize per family. The scavenger hunt runs through Dec. 31.

Other activities for this weekend’s fun include live ice sculpting, horse-drawn carriage rides, holiday market and craft stations, photo opportunities with Santa, free glitter tattoos, appearances by princesses and special characters, food trucks, and a beer garden.

The magical 36-foot holiday tree’s nightly musical and digital light show runs from 5 to 9 p.m. in Bond Park.

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/12/05/estes-park-snowman-fest-kicks-off-this-weekend-in-estes/

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By Gary Hall

Let’s talk the future. But not 2025. How about 2125? We do have to deal with the short-term problems and solve them, but I want to try to see what Estes Park will look like 20, 50, 100 years. We’ve been here for 150 years or so and we’ve made it look like what it is. Can we keep the beauty while tending to our population and workers and wildlife for another 100 years and beyond?

It’s a worthy exercise but perhaps TOO conservative with the vision. There will be great advancements that I’m missing here. I need my inner Isaac Asimov to kick in; as I go to press with this, I think it looks more like 50 years in the future, not 100. So, what do YOU see in Estes’s future?  

Green Energy and Transportation

We will have achieved 100% green dependable electrical power no later than 2037 for Estes. The Virtual Power Plant will track the many sources of private electricity into the grid. We’ll have enormous, redundant battery storage to get us through. There will be new sources of energy not yet discovered or developed today. Will the rest of the world be as good as us locally/regionally?

We’ll have continuous autonomous (no driver) transportation up and down the hill. We’ll have only a small number of private vehicles, because it will be so convenient to use the automated green methods. You can still have family privacy on a long road trip by using personal vehicles.

There will be aerial options, vehicles of the air. Really! You can get one now for $300K, but the FAA doesn’t have rules yet.

Our fleet of Town vehicles

Vehicles will be completely electric by 2032. We’ll have pedestrian overpasses: the top of Big Thompson or across Highway 7 / S. St. Vrain. Crosswalks will not be danger zones – cars will be stopped automatically if a person or elk is crossing.

Personal wheeled or hovering devices

Pedestrians on gyroscopic wheeled shoes will follow paths around the Dry Gulch/Devils Gulch loop, the full Fish Creek/Highway 7 loop, and more.

Downtown Estes Park

Our will be a beautiful, interwoven multi-street mall with pedestrian walkways and some areas of downtown will have weather management with seasonal enclosure. Flowers all year! It will be more than shops and restaurants: there will be various entertainment and play options that I can’t imagine. Many streets will be heated (technology to do that will be much cheaper); ice and snow will be much less of an issue. Paid parking? Not needed by then. (But it’ll be around for a while yet.)

Forests: hiking, climbing, fire protection, and suppression

The beetle kill stands will be long gone, some through conflagrations. Fire protection and suppression will be advanced technology that would look like sorcery if we could see it today. Automated transportation will be the thing in the park but there will still be options for backpacking into the more remote parts of the parks and forests. Long before 2125, we will help our guests and residents depart the Park with a greater understanding of how to live in harmony with our forests and mountains and streams, how to do no harm and instead nurture.  

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/12/04/2125-back-to-the-future-with-the-mayor/

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Story by Suzy Blackhurst

New anti-bullying policy and response protocols have reduced incidences by 15% in one year; emphasis on attendance has improved attendance rate

Estes Park Schools face challenges of declining enrollment which impacts the school's budget in addition to social and cultural changes in the post-COVID learning environment. Credit: Patti Brown / Estes Valley Voice

Continually declining enrollment that year-by-year decreases funding available to pay both teachers and non-certified staff, the necessity to improve state accreditation ratings, and meeting the goals set by a community strategic planning committee are just a few of the challenges facing the Estes Park school system according to Ruby Bode, superintendent of schools.

While the student population has decreased every year for the past two decades, the loss has been especially drastic since 2019. In Colorado, program funding is based on enrollment. Current school enrollment is calculated at the 2023-2024 level of 950 students, 890 of whom are full time. Enrollment calculations for the current school year will be released by the state in January but Bode already knows the number will be lower again.

“In the past five years, enrollment has decreased over 100 students which equates to a loss of $500,000 $600,000 a year ,” Bode said during recent community round-table discussions sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

Lower funding equates to less money available for programming and salaries.

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/12/03/estes-park-schools-work-to-meet-district-student-needs/

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Story by Patti Brown

Two Estes Park realtors, Nicole White and Peggy Lynch, were recently recognized for their professional work and community service.

Nicole White honored by the Colorado Association of Realtors with 2024 Diversity and Inclusion Individual Award

White, a realtor with the Inspired Living Group brokered by eXp Realty, LLC,  grew up on Long Island in Freeport, NY, a community White says was predominately Black and Hispanic. As a young girl, she found herself in the minority, but she says it was not an uncomfortable place.

When her family moved to Oceanside, a neighboring community that was predominantly a white enclave, she quickly became aware of attitudes of racial and cultural discrimination between groups of students who came from different backgrounds, and that bothered her a great deal.

Read full story here:

White, a realtor with the Inspired Living Group brokered by eXp Realty, LLC,  grew up on Long Island in Freeport, NY, a community White says was predominately Black and Hispanic. As a young girl, she found herself in the minority, but she says it was not an uncomfortable place.

When her family moved to Oceanside, a neighboring community that was predominantly a white enclave, she quickly became aware of attitudes of racial and cultural discrimination between groups of students who came from different backgrounds, and that bothered her a great deal.

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The Estes Edit by Patti Brown

I am thankful for so many things, but I want to reflect on several things about life in Estes Park. It is said that a picture is worth 1,000 words and Dick Mulhern’s cartoon today captures a sentiment that so many of us who call the Estes Valley home can relate to.

We are blessed to live in a gorgeous, picture-postcard mountain town that millions of people want to travel to every year just to experience a few days of our day-to-day backdrop. We may complain about the lines at Safeway during the high tourist season but how many grocery store parking lots have views of the Front Range?

Sometimes we have to pause and put it all in perspective.

I am grateful for the people of the Estes Valley who have encouraged and supported the founding of the Estes Valley Voice.

In early “what if” discussions over chips and margaritas in March at Ed’s Cantina while watching Caitlin Clark play basketball, photojournalist Dawn Wilson helped to pick the name for a new, hyperlocal, independent, journalist-led news publication. We kicked around a list of options, but “voice” captured a vision for the publication as a vehicle to record the community’s stories.

We also talked about the format – should the EVV be a print or digital publication? For many reasons, it was decided that printing on paper is the past and publishing in pixels online is the future.

More than 80% of people read their news online today. Putting resources into printing on newsprint is not an efficient way to spend resources. By the time the news is written, then laid out for press, then printed, and then distributed it is history not news.

From the get-go, Jana Sanchez got on board as a business consultant, and she brought in graphic designer Christopher Ratliff to provide branding guidance. After more than a dozen iterations, we landed on stylized images of the mountains and the Big Thompson for our logo. Thank you Jana and Chris.

We met with several others for consultation and guidance and before filling with the Secretary of State as a public benefit corporation, I wrote a purpose, mission, and values statement. Journalistic ethics are important in the media, and I wanted to build the Estes Valley Voice on a clear, articulated foundation.

We needed some computer and platform help and Jim Jensen with A through Z computing solved many under-the-hood hiccups and the team from Newspack – Megan and Steve my assigned onboarding people – held my hand as I learned all the whistles and bells of publishing on a state-of-the-art platform. Thank you.

Early on Suzy Blackhurst wanted to get on board. Suzy has a professional background as a copy editor, news reporter, editor, and also a background in advertising and marketing. We clicked as friends and also as colleagues.

Barb Boyer Buck also expressed early interest in the endeavor. She has a strong background as a news reporter, writer, and features editor. She has a passion for the Estes Valley and her writing covers civic affairs, environment, and community stories. After the holidays she will be doing some stories about immigration for the EVV – what are the issues and concerns for people in our area who are here both with and without documentation, what are their rights, what should businesses, landlords, and schools do should the authorities show up with and without a warrant? Barb’s recent story about a spate of car thefts resulted in the generous offer of a car to a group of seven immigrants from Ukraine who depended on one of the vehicles which was stolen.

Both Suzy and Barb bring a passion for storytelling to our publication. Thank you.

Read full story here:

https://estesvalleyvoice.com/2024/11/28/from-grateful-heart-thank-you-to-the-estes-valley-community/

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