Northwest Colorado Health Launches $3M Campaign for Home Hospice Care

Steamboat Springs —Jeff sat in his living room, the silence of the house broken only by the hum of the refrigerator. He had lived in the Yampa Valley long enough to know every crack in the pavement and every neighbor’s dog. But as his ALS progressed, the world shrank. His legs gave out. Then his arms.

He didn’t expect to talk about death. He certainly didn’t expect it to feel manageable.

“Hospice has been so wonderful in this whole process because I never knew we’d talk about death so much, but, you know, it’s not scary like it was,” Jeff told the Craig Daily Press.

His wife stood by him. The hospice team did the rest. They brought the care to the door. They kept Jeff at home until the end. It wasn’t a hospital. It was his life.

This is the work of Home Health and Hospice. It is quiet. It is personal. It happens in kitchens and bedrooms, not in waiting rooms.

Northwest Colorado Health has provided these services since 1964. They are the only provider in Moffat and Routt counties. That is a wide area. The staff drive 100,000 miles a year. They make 10,355 visits. They care for more than 300 patients.

Read that again. 10,355 visits.

Every patient gets the same care. It does not matter if they have insurance. It does not matter if they are broke. The bill comes later. The care comes now.

This costs money. A lot of it.

The system loses nearly $1 million a year on these services. They pay for it. The insurance companies don’t. The government doesn’t. The community does.

The organization launched a three-year campaign to raise $3 million. They need it. The population is aging. The demand is rising. The funding is flat.

Stephanie Einfeld, the CEO, put it plainly.

“Home Health and Hospice are community services, and it’s very clear that at some point, we are all going to need them or somebody that we love is going to need them,” she said.

They have a challenge grant. A donor will match every dollar up to $300,000 through the end of 2026. Every dollar becomes two.

There is another layer. The organization is an approved Enterprise Zone Contribution Project. Cash gifts of $250 or more can qualify for a Colorado state income tax credit. The credit is 25% of the donation. It caps at $100,000 per taxpayer, per year.

The money goes to operations. It buys a glide path. It buys stability.

It keeps older adults in the valley. It keeps them at Casey’s Pond Senior Living. It keeps them at The Haven Assisted Living. It keeps them at home.

Jeff is gone. His wife is still here. The team that cared for him is still driving those 100,000 miles. They are still making those 10,355 visits.

They are still waiting for the community to step up.