Aspen Valley Hospital (Aspen, Colorado, USA)
In 1959 the Pitkin County (Colorado) commissioners agreed to a 10-year lease beginning 1 January 1960 with the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities (Mennonite Church) to provide administrative services and operational coordination of the health care services at the Pitkin County Hospital in Aspen, a small community in the Rocky Mountains. Samuel Janzen, administrator of the Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, some 40 miles northwest of Aspen, assumed similar responsibilities for the Aspen facility, and Naomi Stoltzfus became the hospital’s Director of Nursing.
The hospital, which had been constructed in 1890, was inadequate for the community’s needs by the mid-1950s. A fundraising campaign was begun, and Aspen’s new hospital facility commenced in stages, utilizing the old building, and adding new wings, until construction ended. During the fall of 1959, the first new wing was opened and two years later the Pitkin County Hospital was renamed Aspen Valley Hospital. The last construction phase began in early 1962 when the main portion of the community’s former Citizens’ Hospital was torn down and replaced with a final wing that joined the two earlier phases. The completed 25-bed hospital was dedicated on 10 June 1962.
Clarence Ebersole replaced Janzen as Aspen Valley Hospital administrator in 1963, and Harvey Hartzler replaced Ebersole in 1965. During the late 1960s, the board of trustees of Aspen Valley Hospital determined that with a growing community and plans to build a substantial addition to the facility, it was necessary to assume a more direct role in operating the hospital. Thus, the hospital’s administration was returned to Aspen County in 1970, and Harry M. Weir, executive director of Craig Rehabilitation Hospital in Denver, was hired to replace Hartzler as hospital administrator.
Bibliography
"Hospital Gets New Administrator." The Aspen Times, September 17, 1965, p. 13.
Unrau, Harlan D. In Pursuit of Land, Health and Mission: A History of Mennonites in the Mountain States Region. Printed in Canada by Blitzprint Inc. 2007.
| Author(s) | Harlan D Unrau |
|---|---|
| Date Published | October 2011 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Unrau, Harlan D. "Aspen Valley Hospital (Aspen, Colorado, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. October 2011. Web. 19 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Aspen_Valley_Hospital_(Aspen,_Colorado,_USA)&oldid=79280.
APA style
Unrau, Harlan D. (October 2011). Aspen Valley Hospital (Aspen, Colorado, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Aspen_Valley_Hospital_(Aspen,_Colorado,_USA)&oldid=79280.
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