National Health Center Week 2021:
Celebrating Community Health Center Patients and Boards
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by Ross Brooks, CEO, patient
We honor patients like Monica Perez-Rhodes, Chair of the Board of Directors for Mountain Family Health Centers (MFHC) in Western Colorado. Monica was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 18. In 1994, she began working as a dishwasher at the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado. Over more than 25 years, Monica has grown from the dishwasher position, to reception, to the business office, to today serving as the Controller for the local day/boarding school for high school students. In 2001, Monica became a citizen of the United States, holding dual citizenship with Mexico.
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Health For All Fund and Founding Members
Continue To Make A Difference
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by Jan Jennings, Development Director
Thanks to our many loyal and generous donors, The Mountain Family Health For All Fund continues its support of the doctors, nurses, and other providers at our four health centers and our six school-based health centers.
Donors to the fund support vital health-care services, including COVID-19 testing and vaccine inoculations as well as primary care for more than 21,000 patients served in Pitkin, Eagle, and Garfield Counties.
In its inaugural year, the Health For All Fund has raised $415,318 in gifts and pledges from 148 donors. Thanks to all for answering the call on behalf of the families in our community who need our help.
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For more information on giving:
Jan Jennings
Development Director
(970) 989-1134
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School-Based Healthcare at Glenwood Springs High School |
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We are very pleased to announce the opening of our newest school-based health center, located in the Glenwood Springs High School. Adolescents are traditionally difficult to reach for primary medical, dental and behavioral healthcare, and this clinic provides a new access point for all three health services. Our goal is to reduce barriers to care, ensuring the young people of our community have access to the services they need to thrive. For the summer, we are offering medical services on Tuesday and Thursday and behavioral health on Thursday and Friday and will look to expand services and availability to coincide with the start of the school year.
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Uninsured Coloradans Can Enroll |
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Connect for Health Colorado, the state’s official health insurance marketplace, has opened a new Uninsured Enrollment Period o help as many people as possible protect their health and safety. Anyone who is uninsured can enroll during this time, without having a qualifying event to sign up. As a reminder, Connect for Health Colorado is the only place where Coloradans can apply for financial help to lower the cost of health insurance.
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Vaccine Myth Busting with Dr. Kimberly Levin |
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Click here to watch all vaccine myth busting videos. Produced by Pitkin County Government
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Vaccination against COVID-19 remains the single best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family against the virus. As of July 1, Mountain Family has provided over 7,600 vaccine doses to community members. We recently switched to offering Pfizer vaccine as our primary vaccine available. This allows us to vaccinate anyone 12 and older and also be more nimble with vaccine stewardship due to smaller amount of doses per vial. This is helpful as we move into a phase of the pandemic where vaccines are more integrated into general clinic flow, rather than given at mass vaccination events. We do still have a limited amount of Moderna shots available for second doses as well. Vaccines are available at all 4 hub sites (Edwards, Glenwood Springs, Basalt and Rifle) at least one day a week. If you or a family member who is 12 or older is still in need of a COVID vaccine, please call 970-945-2840 to schedule or ask about the vaccine at your next appointment.
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The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
― Nelson Mandela
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Our Mountain Family staff recently played and won second place in support of Youth Zone in their annual scramble.
From left Will Covington, Annette Franta, Scott Owens, and Devon Spaulding.
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Celebrating 10 Wonderful Years in Rifle |
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Mountain Family Health Centers in Rifle opened to the public on Monday, June 20, 2011 and we are pleased to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We look forward to providing high quality, integrated primary medical, behavioral, and dental health care in Rifle, with special consideration for the medically underserved, regardless of ability to pay for years to come. Most recently, our Rifle clinic distributed thousands of COVID-19 vaccines to our area residents and maintained care for our patients throughout the pandemic. Our dental clinic continues to grow and provide access to high quality care for families, seniors and those without insurance. Thank you to all of our patients, supporters and staff that have made Mountain Family Health Centers in Rifle a huge success.
"I am happy to be part of the 10 year anniversary of the Rifle clinic. It has been a decade of hard work, celebrations and teamwork which has led us to 10 years of success. To our team, thank you for all the hard work you put in daily! Know that it is recognized, greatly appreciated and makes a difference in our patients lives."
- Wendy Gil, Rifle Practice Manager
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Congratulations to our June Award Winners |
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Mariposa Award Winner:
Alexis States
by Pam Herrera
Alexis is my go-to person when I have any questions. During new hire orientation Alexis explains in depth what the MAS role consist off, gives out a schedule that they will follow and what their training will look like and the steps to become a certified medical assistant. Alexis is also in charge of doing the BLS training and goes out and beyond to make sure that we are getting up to date training and CPR techniques. I want to thank Alexis for her kindness and patience she’s had with all the recent changes in Edwards, from not having a Practice Manager and figuring out who is doing what role etc.
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Exemplary Care Award Winner:
Cristina Andrade
by Barb Corcoran
Cristina really struggled with caring for a patient that seemed to be having a panic/anxiety attack, which then turned into a seizure, paramedics were called. Cristina continues to work with this patient, provide excellent care and is getting her hooked up with services to help her live a healthier, fuller life including advocacy from the Advocate Safehouse Project.
by Mary Patterson
I would like to nominate Cristina in BH- she has been such an asset to our clinic. I feel lately many days she has been the only BH provider in Glenwood but always willing to help. She has such a calming way and it definitely shows how much she cares for our patients. Yesterday in particular was a hard day with a patient and she stayed right there with her to be sure she was safe. Thank you Cristina! You are awesome!
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U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act
The US Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA), rebuking a number of Republican-led states that want to see the law invalidated.
The case, California v. Texas, was seen by many court observers as a sequel to the 2012 suit National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius. That lawsuit involved a challenge to the individual mandate, the part of the law that requires individuals to purchase health insurance or face a penalty. In that case, the court held that the individual mandate was constitutional because it ruled the penalty was a tax. However, in 2017 Congress changed the law, lowering the tax penalty from $695 to $0.
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