FEBRUARY 4 - 11, 2026
VOLUME 33, ISSUE 6
THE DEFINITIVE SOURCE FOR GRAND JUNCTION BUSINESS & COMMUNITY NEWS SINCE 1994
The wait was worth the space for birth center Tim Harty
L
The Business Times
ast March, Tender Gifts Birth & Wellness Center thought it was going to reside in the building that previously housed Bloomin’ Babies, anticipating a May 2025 move-in. That didn’t happen, but it worked out for the best. Later this month, Tender Gifts will finish moving into a much larger, better-appointed building. Intermountain Health Bloomin’ Babies Birth Center had resided at 2241 N. Seventh St. until Intermountain Health decided to close the birth center, effective March 28, 2025, citing “steadily declining birth rates in Mesa County and unsustainable decreases in the number of new patients.” A birth center moving into the space used by another birth center made a lot of sense to Tender Gifts owner Althea Hrdlichka, who also owns and operates a Tender Gifts in Fort Collins. But when Hrdlichka found out renovations – installing birthing tubs and birth slings in the client rooms among them – were going to cost considerably more than she anticipated, the location lost its luster. “We decided to just go ahead and find a new location and build out from basically scratch, so that’s what we did,” Hrdlichka said. See story Page 5
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Doing mental healthcare differently Ava Health opens Feb. 9 with transparency at the heart of its business model— See Page 2
Ava Health CEO Christopher Bennett addresses a group of nearly two-dozen new employees on Jan. 28, which was the third day of a two-week orientation for the new hires, getting them ready for Ava Health to open Feb. 9. One of the things Bennett told the group was: “We will be the most accountable organization that exists in healthcare.” He also said, “You are hired here to be trusted, not micromanaged.” Photo by Tim Harty.
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