CEO Update: Thank You for a Great Year!
Happy December! When January started it felt like time would move at a snail’s pace, but true to form, the year has gone by quickly – with that age old saying of “the days are long but the years are short”. For me personally, this year has come with the celebration of my daughter getting married and for me, professionally, the year has come with the opportunity to serve as the President of the National Rural Health Association.
This year marked the 33rd year for me in healthcare. I spent my first 18 years working at the Quality Improvement Organization in Colorado where I first had the opportunity to partner with our rural healthcare facilities. It’s exciting that some of those individuals I worked with at the QIO at that time are still around! Then I have spent the last almost 16 years at the Colorado Rural Health Center, with close to 14 of those years as the CEO. Growing up in the small rural town of Elizabeth, CO with about 800 people and about 5,600 in the county, I saw and experienced the lack of access to healthcare which has inspired my career. I believe healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and I continue to work daily to ensure everyone in our rural communities has access to care.
This year, it was the honor of my career to serve as the President of the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). What a year to serve, right? I had some goals I had hoped to achieve during my time as President such as continuing to advocate for access to care for rural communities, moving towards federal funding for rural health clinics, continued funding for State Offices of Rural Health, stopping the many financial cuts (such as sequestration), and supporting NRHA policies such as The Save the Rural Hospital Act. As you know, the universe had other ideas. Over the year, I made many, many visits to DC and during those visits met with the Colorado Federal Delegation, the Democratic Senate Leadership, HHS Secretary Kennedy, and CMS Administrator Dr. Oz. I wrote letters to the Rural Health Caucus and countless emails and social media posts on funding freezes, Medicaid cuts, HRSA Grant Funding, and so much more. THANK YOU NRHA for many of these opportunities to inform our policy makers at all levels about rural communities and rural healthcare.
While many cuts were put into place with the passage of HR1, the opportunity was also provided for the Rural Health Transformation Grant of $50 billion over five years. Thank you to all of our rural hospitals, clinics, partners, HCPF, and the Governor’s office for the opportunity to work in close collaboration around the Rural Health Transformation Grant. What I hope is that this funding will help us prepare for the future as it is vitally important that we get this right. We know that there are some really tough times ahead and we are hopeful that this funding is going to come through and help us transform and sustain access to care in our rural communities.
As the year comes to a close, I’d like to also express my extreme gratitude to my team at CRHC for not only keeping up with our priorities and goals for 2025, but for adapting to meet the needs of our rural communities this year. And, exciting news to look forward to – the 2026 version of the Snapshot of Rural Health is coming in January and it includes another 40+ pages of data and information!
I wish you all the best holiday season from all of us at CRHC!
