Courier View 1
Pikes Peak
Teller County, Colorado • Volume 52, Issue 52
December 25, 2013
75 cents
A Colorado Community Media Publication
pikespeakcourier.net
Brutus, the eight-year-old Great Dane, needs a home. He is currently hanging out at Animal Clinic of Woodland Park, with Terri Collins and David Volz, DVM. Photo by Pat Hill
Wanted: Good home for Brutus Pamela McManus, chief executive officer of Peak Vista Community Health, talks about the merger of the organization with Plains Medical Center. Photo by Pat Hill
Peak Vista, center merge By Pat Hill
phill@ ourcoloradonews.com A merger between Peak Vista Community Health and Plains Medical Center will consolidate administration of the organizations. “It’s really a strategic decision on behalf of both boards, to look at how to be stronger together, to make sure we’re looking at health-care changes and being proactive” said Pamela McManus, Peak Vista’s chief executive officer. “So we’re excited about the merger.” For Peak Vista’s clients in Teller County, the merger will not affect operations or the personal touch inherent to small communities. “What I’ve seen with the clinics in Divide and Cripple Creek is that they need the local control yet the bigger systems can support that,” McManus said. “I’d like to recognize the Divide and Cripple Creek communities because they are amazing.” As of November, the Divide clinic had 2,905 active patients and recorded 8,923
patient visits; the Cripple Creek/Victor Mountain Clinic had 435 active patients and recorded 1,643 patient visits. Next year, with the expansion of Medicaid in Colorado, a provision of the Affordable Care Act, Peak Vista expects to serve more clients. “There are many people currently being served under a sliding scale who will be eligible for the Medicaid benefit,” McManus said. “Our staff has been trained and is working very hard in making sure that people understand what their options are.” Colorado is one of 29 states as of December that agreed to the Medicaid expansion which is funded entirely by the federal government for the first three years. On the other hand, some Peak Vista patients whose income is 133 percent of poverty are eligible for insurance through Colorado’s online market exchange. For a single person, the poverty level is $11,500 and $23,500 for a family of four. For patients with an annual income from 133
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to 200 percent of poverty, federal subsidies are available. “After 200 percent, the marketplace is available,” McManus said. “I think for Peak Vista our priority is making sure people understand what’s available, and what their choices are.” With the additional administrative costs associated with helping people enroll in the marketplace, Peak Vista was recently awarded a $25,000 grant from Health Resource and Services Administration. Weeks before the deadline of Dec. 23, 4,000 Peak Vista clients had signed on either to the marketplace exchange or the Medicaid expansion. “I’m pretty impressed that our state decided to implement our own program,” McManus said, referring to the state’s online health-care exchange. Despite the deadline, people can sign up for Medicaid any time. “That’s important for people to know; they still need to come in and see what options they have,” she said. In a confusing time for
many when it comes to exchanges and Medicaid, McManus concentrates on the positive feedback, the gratitude expressed by many who today have access to health care. “A lady stopped by the other day to thank me - she had referred a friend who was having a hard time understanding the changes,” she said. Consequently, a certified Peak Vista enrollment specialist helped the man sign on for health insurance. A nonprofit organization, Peak Vista provided $15 million worth of charity care for people in El Paso and Teller counties. “That’s why we’re here; when someone comes in and pays us a $10 co-pay, that obviously doesn’t cover the cost,” she said. “We do charge based on a sliding scale and their ability to pay.” This month, Peak Vista received a $57,506 grant from the Limited Gaming Impact Fund. “I’d like to thank the Teller County commissioners for their support,” she said. Certified public account with a master’s degree in business administration, McManus previously worked in hospital care as well as for Peak Vista before being promoted from withPrinted on recycled in three years ago. newsprint. Please “The reason I accepted recycle this copy. the job offer is that I wanted to work in a place that made a difference,” she said. “I am just absolutely thankful to work in a place like this.”
By Pat Hill
phill@ourcoloradonews.com He’s big, loving, laid back and in need of a good home. Currently in the care of Animal Medical Clinic of Woodland Park, Brutus the Great Dane and his late owner, Larry Class, 72, arrived on the door step of the clinic in October 2012. Homeless and in need of medical attention for Brutus, Class heard about the good hearts at the clinic. Word gets around in a small town. “Brutus’s leg was swollen, he had a huge bladder problem and it took three of us to get him out of the van,” said Terri Collins, who owns the clinic. “Brutus got hit by a car, on purpose, in a campground in Santa Fe.” The two were on the last leg of a road trip from New Orleans where Class eked out subsistence after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his place of employment in a shelter run by a church. In addition to being destitute and suffering the effects of a stroke, Class was grieving the death of his 20-year-old son. Rather whim or destiny, he and Brutus headed for Woodland Park in the van. In a time when many are on the brink of losing it all, when survival can depend upon a spot of luck, the pair touched an emotional chord in Collins and David Volz, DVM. While Volz repaired the dog’s leg and handled other medical problems, Collins offered Brutus a place to recover at the clinic. “Larry would come every day and sit with the dog for two hours,” Collins said. Class, however, in addition to being homeless, was facing terminal illness. As Brutus recovered, Collins found temporary housing, eventually arranging for the two to live in a 5th Wheel trailer in Woodland Park. “We arranged to have nurses there and one of the men in the trailer park was with Larry 24/7,” Collins said, adding that she visited nearly every day. Donna Zinko was in the waiting room the day Class and Brutus arrived at the clinic. “We chatted awhile,” Zinko said. Another rescue angel, Zinko, bought groceries, helped pay expenses and took Class to his doctor appointments in Colorado Springs. “Larry was engaging, was quite a conversationalist,” Zinko said. “He could be ornery and was kind of a tease. He was very personable and we all enjoyed him.” As death came nearer for Class, his neighbor at the trailer park, James Singleton, stayed with his new friend until he died from complications of COPD, lung and prostate cancer Dec. 8. “Larry just had a personality; when he moved in he came over and brought me a box of food that he’d gotten from the Teller Senior Coalition,” Singleton said. “I told him I’d be with him until the end.” Brutus continues on Page 15