Mountaintop Medicine

A foot injury she sustained while training for the Boston Marathon changed the trajectory of Dr. Jamie Mieras’ career. She did not start out to become a healer.

The Boulder native went to school at The University of Colorado for a degree in Biology with an emphasis on plant studies. She moved to Seattle and worked as an IT administrator for a time. That’s when she got into running, one of her big passions.

“When I found a podiatrist to help me, I was just in awe of what he could do,” Dr. Mieras remember...

Estes Park Health has two new faces in the emergency department – Dr. Paige Machado and Dr. Zachary Blea. They work for Estes Park Emergency Associates, a small company started about 30 years ago by Dr. Christoper Daley. They contract to staff the emergency room at EPH.

Dr. Paige Machado

When Paige Machado was a little girl, her family could see her future.

“My parents like to joke that I wanted to be a doctor since I was five years old,” Dr. Machado recalled. “I used to watch ‘Rescue 9-1-1’ on the TV and make them re...

Michael Morton recently underwent a pulmonary function test at Estes Park Health. The 75-year-old Estes Park retiree was hospitalized in 2023 when one of his lungs filled with fluid. He’s recovered now, but his doctor wants to check his lung function.

“My pulmonary physician decided he wanted to see how my breathing was doing,” Morton said. “It’s just a test to follow up and make sure I’m still doing well.”

Respiratory therapist Bill Christen guided him through the process. The sensitive machine analyzes and test lung volumes, lung capacity, rates of flow, and how gas exchan...

Dr. Jennifer McLellan took on the job of medical Chief of Staff at Estes Park Health on January 1st. She is the third woman in a row and the third woman ever to hold this leadership position. She takes over from Dr. Bridget Dunn who served in the role in 2023 and 2024. Before Dr. Dunn, Dr. Robyn Zehr served in the role.

“I am essentially the lead physician for all the physicians who are medical staff members of Estes Park Health.” Dr. McLellan explained. “I will be a liaison between the medical staff members and the administration as well a...

The newest piece of equipment in the Diagnostic Imaging department of Estes Park Health was bought through the generous fundraising campaign of the 2024 Mrs. Rooftop Rodeo candidates.

The ten candidates for Mrs. Rooftop Rodeo raised a record-breaking amount of money. Altogether, these volunteers gathered more than $118,000 to fund a brand-new ultrasound machine for the hospital. This technology will – among other things – help with finding cancers and evaluating treatment.

“The 2024 Mrs. Rooftop Rodeo was extremely successful,” said registered sonographer and radiographer Marcy Kimbro. “They always are in raising the money, making people aware in the community, and now we...

When people stay in the hospital after injury, illness, or surgery, the Occupational Therapist (OT) is the professional who makes sure these patients can go home and get around their house again. The OT has a very practical job: making sure people can cook, clean, shower, get dressed, and many other activities of daily living.

Inna Wines is the newest inpatient OT on the medical/surgical unit at Estes Park Health.

“My family and I have been coming to Estes Park since I was born,” Wines explained. “Every year there were family reunions, family vacations. I knew...

Funds will help buy new cardiac ultrasound machine

Carolyne Boettger of Estes Park recently had an important test at Estes Park Health. It’s a cardiac ultrasound, also known as echocardiography. Carolyne has atrial fibrillation. Her doctors are monitoring her condition to see if there are any changes.

“I know when I go into A-fib,” she remarked “You can tell that it’s an irregular heartbeat. It’s been on and off. It isn’t all the time. It’s been controlled mostly through medications. I have had two ablations in the past. I have had...

Estes Park Health Rehabilitation Services is adding hours and expanding services to meet the needs of the Estes Valley Community.

The Rehab center at 420 Steamer Drive next to Urgent Care is now open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“By extending our hours Monday through Thursday, we hope to accommodate patients who need appointments later in the day, after work or after school,” said Kendra Vancil, EPH Rehabilitation Services & Urgent Care Manager.

Rehab Services has also hired a new physical therapist with spec...

Amanda Ericson is Estes Park Health’s new registered dietitian. She joined the EPH team in August of 2024. Ericson helps patients in and out of the hospital.

“A registered dietitian provides education and counseling to patients regarding their nutrition needs and to understand how to adapt their eating patterns to accommodate their new diet or restrictions.”

Ericson was a baker for many years. She received a lot of requests from customers to make their favorite desserts gluten free, sugar free, dairy free. She began to learn more about nutrition and what ingredients were appropriate to use. S...

Along with traditional yearly mammograms and the occasional ultrasound test, women at risk of breast cancer can also be screened with a sophisticated machine called Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI. Estes Park Health is adding breast MRIs as a new service in the Diagnostic Imaging Department. Technologists use the same machine outfitted with a special breast coil to help create pristine images of the breasts and surrounding tissue.

An MRI uses powerful magnets, radio waves and a computer to create images radiologists read.

“MRI works with a high strength magnetic field,” explained EPH Radiologist Dr. John...

In an effort to control health care costs and improve quality of care for Medicaid patients, the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing is overseeing the Hospital Transformation Program (HTP). Estes Park Health is one of 76 hospitals in Colorado taking part in this state endeavor.

Certified Nurse Case Manager Leah Smith is one of a handful of people on the Estes Park Health team handling the Hospital Transformation Program.

“HTP started about five years ago,” Smith explained. “It’s an initiative that aims to improve the quality of hospital care provided to Medicaid patients. The prog...

Donors can give at the hospital every three months

Blood is essential for life. It’s an elemental medical component for which there is no substitute. That’s why blood donor drives are so important.

Estes Park Health teams up with the UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center once each quarter to host a blood drive at the hospital. Professionals from Fort Collins bring all the equipment they need to make these vital blood draws a success. Dozens of Estes Valley residents show up to help their neighbors in need.

Jeff Lind...

Estes Park Health’s newest specialist to care for patients at EPH is Connie Wolf, M.D., a urologist who offers both medicinal and surgical interventions.

“I’m super excited to be up here,” Dr. Wolf stressed. “Everyone at the hospital has been so welcoming and warm. It’s got a really nice close-knit small-town feel. I can’t wait to meet the patients.”

Dr. Wolf will see patients every other Tuesday at Estes Park Health. While she works in the Denver area the rest of the time, she is eager to serve in a small hospital s...

When Estes Park Health decided to close its home health and in-home hospice department in December of 2023, the hospital’s medical social workers stepped in to help patients and their families find the help they need.

“I would say the number of people we help has increased,” noted EPH Chief Nursing Officer Pat Samples. “The reality is every person’s journey is different. Part of our vision here is to meet every patient and family where they are, utilize the resources available to them in the best ways we can considering their situation and what other resources they have...

Darin Workman recently moved from Kansas to Colorado. The 59-year-old Estes Park man enjoys hiking and fishing, but pain in his hip has been keeping him from many of the activities he loves. He’s a retired tennis coach and music teacher who really wants to feel better.

“I’ve had lots of pain,” Workman said. “There’s just no cartilage there. It’s bone on bone.”

Workman turned to Estes Park Health orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gavin Bishop for help. Imaging confirmed what Darin was feeling, and he opted for a total hip replacement.

“He had signif...

Congratulations to 2024 Mrs. Rooftop Rodeo, Elena Nedobukh!

What an amazing campaign by Elena and a really extraordinary group of Crowns for the Care candidates, a record-setting year supporting cancer care at Estes Park Health.

Stan Havlick of Estes Park is a self-described adventurer, speaker, and philanthropist. He has visited every continent around the globe in his 80 years. He’s an active retiree, but a recent pain in his abdomen sent him to the doctor for help.

“For a number of months, I had some discomfort in the lower abdomen,” Havlick explained. “I was talking to a doctor friend. He did a little probe and said, ‘You should have that looked at.’ It’s going to hamper my life and it’s uncomfortable a good part of the time, so I said, ‘Let’s just address...

Estes Park resident Jän Rigby is getting ready for a quick, painless test at Estes Park Health that will yield a wealth of information about his lung health.

A low dose lung CT (computed tomography) scan can show radiologists if there are any signs of lung cancer.

‘I’m getting a low dose CT scan of my lungs as ordered by my physician so that they can have a baseline for my lungs because I’m a heavy smoker and have been for years,” Rigby said.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...

Many people look at a problem and say, “I wish I could help, but I’m just one person.” Stan Havlick wanted to help cancer patients. He went out and did it.

“My first wife had acute lymphocytic leukemia,” Havlick explained. “I was motivated to do something. I don’t have a medical background, but I do have a business background. I went to Dr. Bill Robinson who lived in Eldorado Springs at that time. He was the oncologist for my wife. And he helped me decide to put on this race.”

This year’s Run for the Cure i...

When Chuck Varilek is a retired teacher who continues to pursue his love of music by conducting the Estes Park Village Band the Estes Park Jazz Big Band. A recent slip on a patch of ice during a routine morning walk left him with a painful shoulder injury.

“I took a fall and messed up my shoulder and it ended up being I destroyed my rotator cuff amongst other things, so I’m getting those repaired,” Varilek explained. “As soon as I hit the ground, I knew I had messed myself up.”

Varilek went to Urgent Car...

When it comes to providing pain relief and sedation, Estes Park Health’s advanced practice nurses called CRNAs are a critical part of the healthcare team. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists have a nursing degree, experience in critical care, and a specialized degree to practice anesthesia. The highly educated CRNA team at EPH has 40 years of experience between them.

Kaycee Simon is Estes Park Health’s lead CRNA. She said anesthesia is evolving and that’s good for patients.

“It’s not just anesthetic gas and lots of narcotics,” Simon explained. “There are different meds now that make pati...

The hip joint is one of the largest joints in the body and is a major weight-bearing joint. When arthritis, inflammation or injury impacts the hip, there are a myriad of interventions doctors can use to help.

“For many people, the thought is that the hip is anywhere from the rib cage all the way down to the knee,” said Dr. Gavin Bishop, Estes Park Health orthopedic surgeon. “That is where we think of the hip, but the hip joint itself is actually deep in the groin.”

When Dr. Bishop examines a patient with hip pain, he...

Knee pain is an extremely common medical problem that can be caused by injury, wear and tear or arthritis. There are many approaches physicians can take to fix knee issues, from minor treatments to major surgery.

“The knee joint, even though it is a hinge joint, is a fairly complex joint that has a lot of different anatomical parts to it that can be fairly complicated,” explained Estes Park Health orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gavin Bishop. “The cause of pain with a knee can be multiple sources. Often people think that it is just arthritis, but there’s also a p...

When you think of healing, life-affirming colors, you think of rich greens and beautiful blue hues. That’s what muralist Michael Young thought when he looked at a plain wall on the second floor waiting room of Estes Park Health and dreamed of something more, something beautiful.

“A hospital is just like banks and pharmacies,” Young noted. “They’re all brown, which is fine. That’s what you have to do for a business. But I walked in and the first thing I noticed was there were no light greens or blues. We live where God created the greatest...

Ronald Gruber, 83, of Estes Park needs a Lupron injection every three months. After his prostate cancer diagnosis three years ago, he underwent radiation. His doctor suggested he start this therapy to help control his PSA level. He comes to Estes Park Health to receive this hormone therapy. EPH is close to home and provides everything Gruber needs for this treatment.

“It’s a lot handier,” Gruber said. “I’d have to drive to Fort Collins or Loveland to receive this medication.”

Gruber has used Estes Park Health for much of his medical care over the last 24 year...

What does it say about an organization when people sign up to be temporary employees, and then choose to become staff and stay? At Estes Park Health, we think it speaks volumes.

Take Angela Waldon who took a job as a traveling healthcare worker at Estes Park Health. She is a CT technologist, conducting important diagnostic imaging scans for patients.

“I started working as a traveler after COVID at the end of 2021,” Waldon said.

She is from Colorado, but had moved to Florida, traveling to seven different work locations trying to find the righ...

When she first took a job at Estes Park Health in 1981, nurse Cindy Kingswood never dreamed she would still be working here more than 42 years later.

“My goal was to work for the summer and then I’d find someplace else to go,” Kingswood remembered. “After the summer, I decided one year would look good on a resume. And then in that year, I met my husband.”

Kingswood lives in Estes Park, close enough that she can walk to the hospital where she works as a nurse in the General Surgery Clinic. She has served in several...

If an accident or an illness lands you in the hospital at Estes Park Health, our hospitalists are ready to get you better and get you home.

“A hospitalist is a physician that’s supervising and in charge of care of hospitalized patients,” explained Dr. Christopher Ryan who is one of three hospitalists who take care of patients in the inpatient unit at EPH.

“We see the kinds of bread-and-butter medicine that can be taken care of at a smaller hospital. So, infections of all sorts, injuries, acute bleeding issues, worsening of heart failure, strokes,” Dr. Ryan s...

Peggy Beck of Estes Park recently had brief eye surgery at Estes Park Health that will help change her vision for the better. Like many seniors, Peggy has cataracts. That’s a condition when the lens inside your eye becomes cloudy over time due to protein degradation as the eye ages.

“Pretty much everybody gets cataracts,” EPH Ophthalmologist Dr. Sarah Dech said. “It’s just whether they get bad enough that you need surgery. Cataracts are pretty much unavoidable. It’s kind of like getting wrinkles. It just happens with aging. We watch them and once they’re bad enough...

Peggy Beck of Estes Park recently had brief eye surgery at Estes Park Health that will help change her vision for the better. Like many seniors, Peggy has cataracts. That’s a condition when the lens inside your eye becomes cloudy over time due to protein degradation as the eye ages.

“Pretty much everybody gets cataracts,” EPH Ophthalmologist Dr. Sarah Dech said. “It’s just whether they get bad enough that you need surgery. Cataracts are pretty much unavoidable. It’s kind of like getting wrinkles. It just happens with aging. We watch them and once they’re bad enough...

Evelyn Wilson of Estes Park took an important step in protecting her bone health this month. She got a DEXA scan. DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry. Simply put, it’s a quick and painless test using x-ray to help physicians monitor the density of your bones.

“It can be your primary, any doctor, an orthopedic doctor, even endocrinologists because they’re interested in thyroid labs and different labs that may leach your calcium from your bones and then distribute that calcium into your bloodstream,” explained Marcy Kimbro, a technologist who administered Wilson’s DEXA test. “We want to k...

In early January 2024, Dr. Gavin Bishop will join the Estes Park Health team as an orthopedic specialist. He will provide general orthopedic care as well as orthopedic surgeries at the hospital.

“With the surgeries I perform, I really like working with the patients and getting them back to health,” Dr. Bishop said. “I enjoy performing them all, but I particularly enjoy performing total hip replacements. I really like how quickly the patients get back to activities. The way we perform this surgery now really allows patients to get up and move right away.”

Dr. Bishop will als...

For patients in Estes Park Health’s Outpatient Infusion Center, the road to recovery just got a little more scenic. More than 20 artists who live in and around the Estes Valley donated more than two dozen pieces of framed watercolors, oils, photographs, and pen and ink drawings to line the walls of this special patient care area.

Gallery Manager Lars Sage of the Art Center of Estes Park helped solicit the donations.

“I was looking for a variety of pieces of artwork,” Sage explained. “They are not always the same scenic view. Hopefully as the person s...

Drew Webb of Estes Park is getting ready for a high-tech imaging test called magnetic resonance imaging or MRI. Estes Park Health installed a new 1.5 Tesla MRI in 2022. It’s an incredible piece of medical machinery.

“I’ve been having some issues with my lower back and hip,” Webb explained. “I had some x-rays done. They were negative. Thank goodness. They thought they needed to take an MRI and see if there was anything else going on.”

An MRI is a non-invasive test that uses a magnetic field, radio waves and a computer to create incredibly d...

Before the discovery of x-ray technology, the only way physicians could look inside the body was to cut it open. All that changed in the 1890s when x-rays became part of a noninvasive medical revolution.

“X-ray is foundation of what we do,” explained Estes Park Health radiologist Dr. John Knudtson. “It’s part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It’s something that we use to transmit through the body and to see the different body parts. It’s still the best way to look inside the body without having to perform surgery.”

At Estes Park Health, patients like...

It’s an important job with a funny name: phlebotomist. Estes Park Health employs five phlebotomists who draw blood for the thousands of tests the laboratory runs every year. These blood draws are crucial for diagnosing medical conditions and monitoring the effectiveness of medication and treatment.

Without lab results, physicians would often be flying blind.

Laurie Larricq has worked in healthcare for 18 years. She enjoys being part of the process to provide accurate blood work to doctors treating patients in the Estes Valley.

“I love being able to help patients get the results they...

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

American women have a one in eight chance of developing breast cancer sometime in their lives. Linda Hansen of Estes Park recently took an important step to find out if she could be one of them by having a mammogram at EPH. At age 72, she has been undergoing. screening mammograms for decades.

“It’s painless and so far, all of my results have been good so there’s no reason not to,” Hansen said. “It’s just pressure at the most.”

Estes Park Health acquired the latest mammography te...

When you’re sick or injured but you don’t need the emergency room and you can’t get into your regular physician’s office, Estes Park Health’s Urgent Care Center is close and convenient.

Staffed with professionals who know how to take care of everything from bumps and bruises to simple bone breaks and infections, our Urgent Care is ready to take care of business quickly and efficiently.

“There are a lot of minor injuries and illnesses that don’t need emergency room attention but simply can be taken care of at urgent care,” said El...

Modern medicine uses amazing technology to look inside the body for diagnosis and treatment. Fluoroscopy – or moving x-ray – is one of the amazing tools radiologists use to peer inside and watch body functions and anatomy in real time. Estes Park Health installed a new fluoroscopy machine in the summer of 2023.

“The images are clearer,” said EPH Radiologist Dr. John Knudtson. “You can see the anatomy and the area of interest more clearly. It helps you look through the images and review the study with more detail. You can slow the images down. It makes your job easier. You get mo...

With an array of massive machines, microscopes, hoods and vials, Laboratory Services at Estes Park Health is the heartbeat of the hospital.

Without lab test results, doctors are simply listening to symptoms and guessing.

Medical Laboratory Scientists or Medical Technologists -- as they are also referred to – are often called the hidden professionals who save lives. Every sample of blood, urine, stool, or culture winds up in the lab where hundreds of tests can be performed on sophisticated instruments.

“So, all the machines you see around here are different platforms for different tests depe...