Aspen Journalism
Lani Kitching waits for a patient to arrive for a COVID-19 test at the testing kiosk in the cellphone parking lot near Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. (Dan Bayer/Aspen Journalism)
Pitkin County has maintained a high COVID-19 community-testing capacity since Curative tests were discontinued last month, but the number of people trying to find out if they have the virus has come down from an early-January peak.
In a few weeks at the beginning of winter, the county went from having a low testing rate to boasting one of the highest in the state, thanks in part to the widespread use of free tests available without a doctor’s order, deployed through a partnership involving the state of Colorado, local officials and the San Dimas, Calif.-based company that made and processed the PCR tests.
As revenues dropped in Aspen’s retail, lodging and restaurant industries in 2020 because of pandemic-related restrictions and shutdowns, so too did activity at Aspen Valley Hospital.
Patient revenue missed budget by 13.6% in 2020 generating $136.1 million compared to the projected $157.6 million due largely to setbacks that included a six-week suspension of elective surgeries. The hospital also spent more money than it generated last year, with $96.3 million in total operating revenue and $110.2 million in total expenses.
That’s based on AVH financial documents and presentations given last week by hospital CEO David Ressler and Chief Financial Officer Ginette Sebenaler to the hospital’s board of directors at its monthly meeting.
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The Lewis family has certainly seen its share of challenges raising an autistic child, but one Roaring Fork Valley organization in particular has made all the difference.
So much that Frances Lewis, mother of 12-year-old Harper, is fully invested in the broader work of Carbondale-based Ascendigo Autism Services as a member of its board of directors.
Harper found support when she became school age, attending the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork near Carbondale, where staff worked hard to integrate her into the school setting with other students, Lewis said.
“The Waldorf School was really involved and put in strategies to work with her and keep her in the classroom,” Lewis said.
Chelsea Self / Post Independent
David Anderson spent a brief part of his childhood going to sleep every night in a tent.
“I didn’t have a lot growing up as a child,” he said. “I found it easier to feed my imagination more so than to go outside and play and make friends.”
With the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers nearby, it would soon play a major role in Anderson’s thinking. The Carbondale native, who’d eventually find himself living in more suitable dwellings while attending schools around the Roaring Fork Valley, used the element of water as a recurring theme in his newly published fiction novel, “Diunthum: Illumnesia.”