{"id":2441835,"date":"2019-03-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=301866"},"modified":"2019-03-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-18T06:00:00","slug":"valley-view-hospital-emergency-physicians-express-support-for-glenwood-springs-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/valley-view-hospital-emergency-physicians-express-support-for-glenwood-springs-airport\/","title":{"rendered":"Valley View Hospital emergency physicians express support for Glenwood Springs Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"
Emergency Dr. Ben Peery stands on the helipad connected to Valley View Hospital. The helipad is utilized by Classic Air Medical and other air medical helicopters, which also use the Glenwood Springs Airport for refueling and maintenance..<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Feb. 5, a patient at Valley View Hospital was scheduled for a type of surgery that, while common along the Front Range, was the first time being done in Glenwood Springs.<\/p>\n

That same day, a rock slide shut down Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walk in and the patient is lying on the bed ready to go and the word is the surgeon is stuck on the other side of the rock slide,\u201d Valley View Cardiovascular Anesthesiologist Dr. Ronald Stevens said.<\/p>\n

Instead of postponing the procedure, Stevens \u2014 a pilot for over 40 years \u2014 flew to Eagle, picked up the surgeon and flew back to Glenwood.<\/p>\n

According to Stevens, the heart procedure was completed, the patient did great and was able to go home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just illustrates the utility of general aviation,\u201d Stevens said of Glenwood\u2019s small airport, the future of which is being analyzed by the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (Glenwood Springs Airport) is really an asset that I think \u2026 flies under everybody\u2019s radar. They don\u2019t really notice it or it doesn\u2019t seem very valuable or useful, but it is,\u201d Stevens said, offering his take on the issue.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, a public meeting was held concerning the city\u2019s Airport Property Scenario Planning Project. At the standing-room only event, project consultants including Gruen Gruen + Associates, The Land Studio and SGM Engineering, presented the public with three potential future scenarios for the Glenwood Springs Airport property.<\/p>\n

Those scenarios include \u201cexpanded aviation,\u201d a \u201cmixed-use village\u201d development with a helicopter landing pad, or full redevelopment into a \u201cresidential village\u201d with no aviation services.<\/p>\n

The continued aviation scenario proposed the idea of expanded and modest enhancements to the airport, which now accommodates several small aircraft owned by private pilots, mechanical services and a fueling station. Valley View\u2019s contract air ambulance, Classic Air Medical, also uses the facility for fueling and maintenance of its Glenwood-based helicopter.<\/p>\n

The mixed-use village would convert the airport property to non-aviation uses with the exception of the helipad and fueling station, while the residential village suggested converting the airport property entirely into new housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Airport Property Scenario Planning Project is only approximately halfway complete,\u201d said Glenwood Springs City Manager Debra Figueroa.<\/p>\n

According to Figueroa, the total budgeted amount for the project is $175,000, with half of the project cost, $87,500, being funded by a Colorado Department of Local Affairs Energy and Mineral Impact Assistance Program Grant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe consultant team has satisfactorily completed various tasks outlined in the scope of work to date \u2026 the information collected through the project is intended to provide City Council and the public with information for any future discussions regarding the airport,\u201d Figueroa said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Ben Peery, who serves as a physician in Valley View\u2019s Emergency Room, understands perhaps better than anyone the critical services the Glenwood Springs Airport provides to patients in critical, life-or-death situations.<\/p>\n

In particular, for patients suffering from a stroke, \u201cminutes equal brain tissue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of this is extremely time sensitive, and the longer that we delay care, \u2026 those patients are suffering minute by minute,\u201d Peery said. \u201cIf we had to send a helicopter from Rifle to here, those are minutes that we don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to patients suffering from strokes, heart attacks or other emergency complications, Peery recalled instances where, had it not been for Classic Air Medical and the Glenwood Springs Airport, children\u2019s lives could have been lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had a couple circumstances related to kids who were in severe, respiratory distress and on ventilators who needed to be transported out,\u201d Peery said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can think of at least two or three cases where, not having air transport in those cases would have probably caused serious harm. \u2026 Those kids wouldn\u2019t have made it if we couldn\u2019t have gotten them to Children\u2019s Hospital, no question,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Driving the airport debate, in part, is the growing need for more housing options for the area\u2019s workforce and families. With very little flat, developable land in the Glenwood Springs area, the airport site has been eyed for years as a place for potential redevelopment.<\/p>\n

For the city\u2019s part, the airport land also is critical to the proposed South Bridge project. Current engineering plans for that project call for a runway underpass leading to a new bridge over the Roaring Fork River and connecting to state Highway 82, should the airport remain.<\/p>\n

Without the airport, the pricetag for that project could be somewhat less, project planners have pointed out.<\/p>\n

mabennett@postindependent.com<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emergency Dr. Ben Peery stands on the helipad connected to Valley View Hospital. The helipad is utilized by Classic Air Medical and other air medical helicopters, which also use the Glenwood Springs Airport for refueling and maintenance..Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent On Feb. 5, a patient at Valley View Hospital was scheduled for a type […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 11:47:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}