The top local health care stories of 2025 shared the theme of expansion of facilities and services to meet the growing needs of patients and clients in the Yampa Valley.
Five significant nonprofit community organizations providing health care or related services for social determinants of health either opened new facilities or launched funding campaigns to expand services.
Veterans Center
The new Veterans Center in downtown Steamboat Springs celebrated its opening in July, and the nonprofit now serves as a resource center helping veterans connect to services in addition to providing a gathering place. Those connections include referrals to the Routt County Veterans Services officer who links clients to Veterans Affairs services such as health care registration or disability claims.
Veterans Services Officer Chana Weissman said The Veterans Center is a “huge asset” to attract veterans to a comfortable setting to then get connected to a wide variety of community, nonprofit or Veterans Affairs resources. Volunteers staff the center 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Yampa Valley Autism Program
In August, nonprofit Yampa Valley Autism Program moved into a larger office on Mid Valley Drive, naming the facility the Northwest Colorado Neurodiversity Center, to meet an increased demand for client services. YVAP supports neurodiverse individuals and those with developmental disabilities ages 3 to 21 and their families through therapy and support to participate in community activities, education and jobs.
With a 30% increase in demand for client services in 2024 and an estimated 57% increase in 2025, the nonprofit had outgrown its previous rental location. With help from a bridge loan from Yampa Valley Community Foundation, YVAP raised $900,000 in community donations and grants to purchase the office space.
LiftUp Routt County
In September, nonprofit LiftUp of Routt County launched a funding campaign to expand its Steamboat facility that provides everything from a food bank to a thrift store to caseworkers who facilitate emergency financial support programs.
As a basic needs service provider, LiftUp helped some 4,000 Routt County residents in 2024, or about one in seven people in the county. For example, LiftUp reported a 67% increase in Food Bank services in the past decade.
The LiftUp expansion plan would finish construction in 2027 to increase the current 10,415-square-foot facility to 19,650 square feet. Following an initial $2.5 million anonymous matching donation, the organization has so far raised another $1 million in pledges, donations and grants toward the overall $5 million goal, LiftUp Executive Director Sue Fegelein reported.
Northwest Colorado Health
Northwest Colorado Health recently launched a three-year campaign to raise $3 million to support services for the region’s rapidly growing aging population to continue providing sufficient home health and hospice services.
“The campaign will sustain vital programs that allow older adults to remain in the Yampa Valley, whether at Casey’s Pond, The Haven or at home through Home Health and Hospice services,” said Suzi Mariano, the nonprofit’s chief marketing and development officer.
“This commitment comes at a cost of nearly $1 million annually in unreimbursed care, due not only to the high number of uninsured and underinsured patients, but also to reimbursement models that fail to cover the true cost of care,” Mariano explained.
Northwest Colorado Health is a safety net organization for individuals, regardless of their ability to pay, and the organization annually provides some 10,350 home health visits with staff driving more than 250,000 miles.
Routt County Council on Aging
With significant growth in the local senior citizen population, Routt County Council on Aging launched a fundraising campaign in the summer to purchase a building for a designated Senior Center instead of current leased use of the Steamboat Springs Community Center.
“We are continuing to seek a future home, and we have raised about $1 million so far,” said April Sigman, the council’s executive director. “There is a huge growing senior population in Routt County, and that need for community and connection is vital to mental and physical health.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Routt County was home to an estimated population of 25,243 as of July 1, 2024, with 20.2% age 65 and older.
Mind Springs Health
In 2025, Mind Springs Health experienced significant changes that will support the stabilization of services at the community mental health center in Steamboat. The agency partnered with Health Solutions and changed its name to Health Solutions West.
Tom Gangel, regional outreach director in Steamboat, said the new partnership has “helped stabilize the leadership and financial position of Health Solutions West.”
In addition, a former 48-bed psychiatric West Springs Hospital in Grand Junction, which had been utilized by Routt and Moffat county patients, was closed in March with those in-patient services now available in Eagle County and on the Front Range. Gangel explained “the current reimbursement models from Medicaid and other private insurance made it difficult to maintain financial health” of a psychiatric hospital. Gangel said the hospital closure was purely a “financial imperative” but “has increased wait times for local residents needing that level of care.”
Other new programs, or existing highly utilized programs, highlight the need for robust health-related services in the Yampa Valley.
Horizons Specialized Services
In July, Horizons Specialized Services, which serves clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, celebrated 50 years of operation.
UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center
In August, Routt County Sheriff’s Office launched a well-received and well-utilized Mental Health Response Team. The two-person, co-responder team, established through a partnership with UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, provides a specially trained officer and a partnering licensed clinical social worker who can respond as needed to mental health-related 911 calls across the county.
The team works collaboratively with officers and dispatchers in the decision-making process for responding, or the team may be requested by law enforcement officers at a scene.
Health Partnership
In December, the nonprofit Health Partnership launched a two-year, collaboratively created pilot program called the HOPE Initiative, or Helping Others through Peer Engagement, that is designed to fill critical gaps in mental health support across Routt County. The initiative will focus on providing localized mental health resources for people who are struggling but not in immediate crisis.
