Dr. Leigh’s letter is spot on. He has saved my life twice, and I am/was sad to see him retire. An absolute Ten+.
I had another heart attack this past August. Before coming in to the Estes Park Health emergency room, I actually called to see who the doctor on duty was. When they told me it was Dr. Leigh, I came in, otherwise I would have taken my chances and driven down to Longmont.
In the past, I have circumvented the EP Health hospital and visited the hospital in Longmont instead. When being checked in, I was asked why I did not utilize the EP hospital? I told them that the reason is that it is the EP hospital and my veterinarian, (who I have complete faith and trust in) wasn’t open.
Ward Brien, Estes Park
One year ago I was told I no longer had a job as an RN with Homecare and Hospice. It was devastating. Not just for me certainly, but for much of our team. Somehow I had felt immune to EPH budget cuts, because I felt our services were too critical to eliminate. We were told we would have a guaranteed job with an out of town agency that would be coming into our community. I have not heard that this is the case. Indeed with that agency we would receive no compensation for the time we drove around the community (Pinewood Spring, the The Retreat and Allenspark for example). Yes, there are a few wonderful people who have begun serving these needs but they have to charge privately (no Medicare, Private Insurance or Medicaid reimbursement). I am astounded that we have not heard from our former patients, to express the value of our services (with very few exceptions). How could all 5 members of the EPH board vote against our continuation? We were the only area in the hospital (I believe) that as nurses did not require the use of “ traveling” staff. I will leave Estes park should I ever need such services. I have worked at the hospital for a total of (approximately 25 years in total). I consider this to be cruel behavior on the part of the hospital. We did not receive severance pay, but finally were promised a job within the hospital. For some of us, we had “been there done that”. It was not a desirable option. If any of this information is incorrect… I apologize. But it was what we were told.
These problems are solely the result of the Board, Vern Carda, and Pat Samples.
As a non-practitioner employee at EPH, I find the easiest way to explain how poor the atmosphere is at the hospital is to simply say its the movie “Office Space.” In a work week I estimate Vern does 15 or less actual minutes of real work; Peter is giving him a run for his money.
I am tired of my wife randomly sending me pictures of Vern in the neighborhood or in Longmont on workdays, during work hours in non professional clothing. Not only does he not come to work, but he cares so little about Estes Park that he doesn’t even hide his complete lack of interest in the role or his nonexistent care of his neighbors’ and patients’ health. I am tired of him skipping the majority of our meetings. I am tired of him clearly not paying attention on video calls and asking us to repeat the question/dialogue anytime someone asks him a question in the few meetings that he bothers to show up to. I am tired of him leaving his door cracked at an angle and the light turned on so that walking by it looks like hes in the office, despite not being on campus. I am tired him missing literal weeks in a row skiing. I am tired of photos of him at Happy Hour before the workdays over.
Ultimately, I am tired of having to apologize to this amazing community that we can’t give them the best experience possible (note: our doctors are fantastic and I will always stand by their knowledge and work) because our board refuses to fire a man that is the least caring and most unqualified disaster of an executive that I have ever had the displeasure to be around.
We all deserve better.
The situation reminds me of *Office Space*, but Vern feels more like Bill Lumbergh—always focused on the wrong things and completely out of touch. He keeps bringing up “the whole staff focused on strategic planning” at every board meeting over the past few months. Yet, if you asked a random staff member to name even one strategic priority from this process, they’d have no idea what you’re talking about. Non-leadership staff aren’t even involved in strategic planning.
You’re absolutely right that the board is a major issue. They’re aware of all the problems but just sit back and do nothing. One board member even worked there as recently as 2022 but hasn’t taken action. Honestly, we all deserve better.