Ask community leaders if the medical needs of Routt County and beyond have been better served in the last five years of Yampa Valley Medical Center under the umbrella of UCHealth, and the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

Despite some initial hesitancy, local professionals now say UCHealth has brought more depth to YVMC. The medical center celebrated five years with UCHealth on Sept. 1, and hospital officials say that milestone represents new patient services, advancements in technology, new care locations and significant investments in the local community.

“We, like many others in the community, were a little uncertain about how things would change with this partnership; however, from our perspective, it has been tremendously successful,” said Ken Rogers, district manager at South Routt Health Service District. “(UCHealth/Yampa Valley Medical Center) has been helpful and supportive to our practice in many ways including diagnostic testing, integrating our (electronic medical record systems), information resources and practice roundtables.”

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“During COVID, we received help from their lab and pharmacy on a regular basis, along with even providing supplies when we were running short,” Rogers said.

Soniya Fidler, president of UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, said she is “proud of (their) continued commitment to (their) patients.”

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“These first five years with UCHealth have been incredible,” Fidler said. “We have continued to deliver personalized care as our community’s local hospital while at the same time enhancing access to care and clinical expertise.”

Chief Nursing Officer at YVMC Kelly Gallegos noted, “Both our local medical community and our patients benefitted from the latest research, infectious disease subject matter experts and quick access to testing, therapeutics and vaccines thanks to UCHealth.”

UCHealth is a nonprofit health system that includes some 28,000 employees and 12 acute-care, full-service hospitals with University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus as its academic anchor.

Dr. Brian Harrington, public health officer for Routt County and a physician at Yampa Valley Medical Associates for 16 years, said the hospital’s affiliation with UCHealth was a “major help” in the local struggle with COVID-19.

“One reason that the local hospital sold to UCHealth five years ago was a belief that YVMC needed the resources of a bigger health system to be better prepared for future challenges,” Harrington said. “The sale proved to be prescient with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic. UCHealth provided medical expertise, material resources and a network of care that resulted in big dividends in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.”

“They were an early provider of PCR testing when most Colorado counties, especially rural ones, did not have that,” Harrington said. “Our local UCHealth hospital ran our community’s biggest testing center throughout the pandemic.”

The public health officer said YVMC was among the first to receive COVID-19 vaccines and committed significant resources to helping the community receive initial vaccinations. 

“Through UCHealth, our hospital was an early, and one of the few, sites in the state providing monoclonal antibody treatments,” Harrington said. “As one of our local hospitalists, I know from personal experience that our connections through UCHealth facilitated the transfer of seriously ill COVID patients to higher levels of care when ICU beds in the state were scarce.”   

Dr. Patrick Johnston, a surgeon at Steamboat Orthopaedic & Spine Institute, said having UCHealth in Steamboat has created more opportunities for medical education. SOSI doctors have increased the amount of time spent teaching medical students and residents.

“This is something that is gratifying for our surgeons and helps create a stronger future of health care,” Johnston noted.

SOSI surgeon Dr. Andreas Sauerbrey said something as seemingly simple as the UCHealth electronic medical record system, which is called Epic, has been helpful.

“I have shared or referred patients in the Front Range (Denver) hospitals and specialists, as this is much easier within the system through the use of Epic, arranging for appointments and following complicated cases whether fracture, tumor or revision,” Sauerbrey noted.

Business leaders are positive too. Steamboat Springs Chamber CEO Kara Stoller believes the five years of YVMC under the umbrella of UCHealth “have been nothing but monumental.”

“From major renovations and new locations to leading our community through a pandemic and embarking on an employee housing project, the UCHealth YVMC team drives forward to ensure patients are provided the best care and the team is strongly supported,” Stoller said.

John Bristol, executive director of Routt County Economic Development Partnership, said YVMC and the UCHealth system are a plus for individuals looking to relocate to Northwest Colorado and businesses considering the Yampa Valley.

“Eds and Meds are the two key community institutions that often drive relocation decisions,” Bristol said.

Dr. Laura Sehnert, YVMC chief medical officer, believes UCHealth is an asset in the ever-changing world of medical care.

“We’ve shared many of our best practices with our UCHealth colleagues in other locations and have appreciated learning from them as well,” Sehnert said.