A press release issued yesterday by the Estes Park Health Foundation Board of Directors announced that the board decided to initiate a separation from employment without cause with Kevin Mullin, the president of the foundation. The separation is “in mutual agreement” with Mullin.
According to the press release, the board will retain independent legal counsel and move forward with the separation process as soon as possible.
At a meeting on Sept. 19, the foundation board “discussed the issue of multiple and conflicting perceptions causing confusion, the need for privacy and openness in Board discussions, and the Board’s desire to achieve and present a unified voice to the public.” The board went into an executive session and excused all guests from the meeting.
On Sept. 10, Vern Carda, the CEO of Estes Park Health sent a memo to the EPHF board stating that effective immediately, EPH was terminating all contact with Mullin in his official capacity as president of EPHF.
Carda stated that one of the reasons for the termination of contact was that Mullin had reached out to UCHealth for advice about EPH completing a Community Health Needs Assessment and because he had raised the question, it created the wrong impression that EPH is required to complete such an assessment.
According to the memo, “this put Estes Park Health in a bad light with UCHealth and resulted in serious potential detriment to Estes Park Health and Estes Park Health’s relationship with an essential clinical and business partner.”
The memo went on to explain “EPH had no explanation for Mr. Mullin’s unauthorized actions, which required awkward contacts and explanations about EPH’s circumstances in an attempt to resolve the legal compliance concerns. As explained in an earlier Estes Park Health Board Meeting, based on an opinion from our Legal Counsel at Hall Render, The Park Hospital District, dba Estes Park Health, as a Special District governmental entity, is exempt from the requirement to complete and file a Community Health Needs Assessment.”
Carda cited what he called “other actions” by Mullin that “have repeatedly violated agreements about how Estes Park Health and the Estes Park Health Foundation would work together more effectively.”
Carda stated that Mullin requested the EPHF board approve a fundraising initiative, “Project 2030,” that included a “Grateful Patient Fundraising” component that would have involved using EPH infrastructure and personnel.
The memo referred to this as an “unauthorized commitment of EPH financial resources” and stated that the “proposal is not supported by EPH and would have involved Estes Park Health and its employees in activities that the American College of Physicians consider to be unethical, with additional concerns about violations of privacy and confidentiality.”
The memo detailed that Mullin had contacted the EPH Chief of Staff to request time to present the fundraising proposal at a meeting of the medical staff. In his memo to the EPHF, Carda wrote, “a number of physicians have expressed an unwillingness to be in the solicitation of grateful patient donations.”
Carda stated that “without prior consultation” Mullin emailed Carda to announce that he had scheduled a tour of EPH for board members of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado. According to Carda’s memo, this was a violation of a collaboration agreement, “Estes Park Health Foundation and Estes Park Health Effective Communication and Fundraising Collaboration Process” entered into between the EPH and EPHF in June.
Carda wrote “it was agreed that 1) all official business-related Estes Park Health Foundation contacts with Estes Park Health and its employees would be channeled through Vern Carda, Estes Park Health CEO, and 2) fundraising projects will generally not require Estes Park Health financial resources without explicit Estes Park Health CEO approval.”
According to Carda, Mullin “has repeatedly alienated fundraising partners of EPH who now refuse to have dealings with him,” and “it has become apparent that his disregard for the interests and perspectives of EPH is beyond repair.”
Mullin responded to the notice that he was no longer permitted on hospital property with a memo to the EPH board stating that he was filing a grievance stating that he had been “subjected to discrimination, bullying, intimidation, and a hostile work environment for the past year due to the behavior of your CEO, Mr. Vern Carda.”
Mullin’s memo stated that he was filing the grievance with the EPH Board “because the the EPH HR Manager advised me that all employee grievances filed with HR are ultimately handled by the CEO, and since he is the subject of the action I felt it would be most appropriate to file it with you.”
A petition in support of Mullin
Many members of the community have expressed support in letters to the editor and social media platforms for Mullin who has been with the EPHF since 2016.
An online petition in support of Mullin was started by Tera Moenning and Gail Cozette with a plea for community members to attend the September Estes Park Health board meeting which will be held in the board room of Town Hall, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Members of the public are permitted three minutes to address the board during the public comment session of the meeting.
Other EPHF business
At the EPHF board meeting last on Sept. 19, the board elected new officers for 2025. The new officers will be Sue Cooper as Chair, Max Salfinger as Vice Chair, Larry Leaming as Treasurer, and Ingrid Drouin as Secretary.
According to the press release issued by the EPHF, “while Estes Park Health Foundation Board regrets this situation, it remains fully committed to our mission to raise funds in support of Estes Park Health and its mission to make a positive difference in the health and well-being of everyone they serve.”
Respectfully… Mr. Batey and the majority of the board need to step down. They somehow chose the worst option. We all care about and deeply respect Kevin, but it is totally understandable why he would want out after this. Theres one massive problem with the selection though. Mr. Carda absolutely hates Larry. He trashes him 24/7 behind his back and blamed his administrations lack of results on Larry for years until Covid became an easy excuse (despite being given record money by the government during this time period). There could not be a single worse person to put on the same property with him than Larry. Larry is a good person and has nothing to do with this but this is going to end terribly.
Mr. Carda has to go… he is the most vindictive person any of us have ever met. He now finally knows the comunity and his workforce all despise him. Hes going to fire everyone and lean more into hiring travel workers and make some excuse about ‘the town at the end of the road not having housing” or other word salad that literally says nothing and sounds folksy so nice people here decide to let it play out.
Mr. Batey is an extremely smart and caring individual but those of us who know him believe that while he would be a great asset on any board hes on… he should not be chairman. He is so intelligent that it paralyzes him from making decisions. Flat out, that is why the CEO is still employed here. We need a caring leader who can see red flags and have the calculated audacity to make decisions, potentially wrong decisions, in the best interest of the community. Mr. Batey simply cannot do that. Ms. Foust should be leading the Board.
This decision is going to have horrific results simply because of Mr. Carda’s ego.
As one of the 83% of Estes Park voters who approved Ballot Measure 8A, and who had been waiting patiently for EPH to become part of a competent hospital network (hopefully UCHealth), I am deeply disturbed about this whole situation. It has come to the point where I consider EPH to be a totally dysfunctional organization, and I have instructed my wife that if I have a serious health emergency of any kind that I be taken ANYWHERE but Estes Park Health.
I will support and sign any petition that asks the residents of Estes Park to vote for the dissolution of the Park Hospital District, and removes the citizens of Estes Park from the obligation of paying a property tax levy to support this institution.
This could be avoided, of course, if this Vern Carda blight on our community is removed from any connection to EPH – as one might cut out a malignant cancer – and EPH actively gets around to SERIOUSLY working on being bought out by a competent health care organization. Of course, this might entail demanding the resignations of most of the current EPH board.
I will not support any sort of affiliation where the current board is not dissolved and left with any say over EPH matters. EPH should be bought out completely. This power play nonsense of an impotent board desperately seeking to remain relevant and in control of EHP – to the detriment of the community – needs to end NOW!
Hi Estes Park, I am passing through on vacation and stumbled into this wild mess. Spit out my coffee serval times. I am a CFA and have some very real questions THAT HAVE TO BE ASKED TONIGHT at your hearing:
So it’s beyond obvious that this Vern person and his evil #2 rule with an iron fist. This means… they fire everyone who thinks different and makes them sign NDAs (brought up in comments). There’s no complaints to the board because these people’s livelihoods will be destroyed if they complain. Viola! No investigations. These comments are the tip of the iceberg – there will be dozens if not hundreds scared behind NDAs
1) When the CEO is fired tonight it needs to be determined if the NDAs can be removed. The public deserves this so they can know what they paid for. These stories will be terrible and I imagine he will have a lawyer with him there.
2) it’s been said multiple times in the comments that workers don’t know what the CEO does or where he’s at. IMMEDIATLEY confiscate security and his card. Ask for a record of his cards scan ins the last x years. There you can see if he comes to work and if so at what time. The public deserves to know this.
3) The big one – you have to have an Audit not assigned by the current board immediately. – losing money still by cutting services? Firing everyone when remote workers cost so much? Revolving door of CFOs? None of that is normal. A betting man says the finance ls are a mess.
^ I think you probably ought to confiscate the business credit cards of the management and run multi year audits if that as well.
The public deserves to know all of this tonight before records can be destroyed.
I’ll be watching. Wine this time.
This situation is getting out of hand. What exactly are we getting for the taxes we pay?
Back in Fall 2022, the hospital board told us they were in talks about a merger. In Winter 2023, they said they needed voter approval to move forward because there were multiple interested parties. They got that approval in May 2023, but here we are, nearly two years later, and there’s not even a Letter of Intent signed.
Meanwhile, several important services have been shut down recently, like the nursing home, hospice care, and OBGYN birth services. Even with these closures, the hospital continues to lose millions of dollars every year.
Most of the leadership from three years ago has left the hospital. There’s been no community needs assessment, and they won’t conduct an employee satisfaction survey, they hired five “travelers,” which somehow means everything’s fine with the work culture.
The board is constantly holding secret meetings to try to fire the foundation director and get their hands on the foundation’s money to balance their books. Staff members are regularly fired and leave with NDAs, preventing them from speaking out.
We need change, and we need it now.
One day, the town is going to wake up and realize that Carda and Barry have destroyed a pillar in this community. What are they so afraid of and why won’t they do an internal staff assessment and/or a community needs assessment?
The truth always wins Vern and David….
That should have read*Carda and Beatty.