Leadville Community Health Foundation

OUR MISSION:  Through service, outreach, and development, the Leadville Community Health Foundation promotes and sustains the highest level of healthcare for Lake County by supporting the programs and services that benefit St. Vincent Health and our community.

The Leadville Community Health Foundation exists to support the health and wellness of Lake County. The essential resource that ensures our access to quality health care is St. Vincent Health.  While the Foundation supports any and all activities that improve the health of our community, we are proud to be the philanthropic arm of St. Vincent Health to ensure that it has the resources necessary to serve residents and visitors alike. 

Residents of Leadville and Lake County have depended on St. Vincent Health since 1879. Hardly a single resident has not benefited from its services, whether to clean a wound sustained on the trail, setting an arm broken while on the slopes, or salving a burn from a wood stove. Our hospital and clinic provide essential medical services, including primary care, speciality medicine, physical therapy and rehabilitation, general surgery, and urgent care. Many of our residents actually were born at St. Vincent's.  It is one of the most critical resources in our rural community. 

Visitors, too, benefit from a critical care hospital serving 400 square miles of beautiful but sometimes inhospitable terrain. Our emergency room physicians and highly trained teams of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) work together seamlessly to provide any and all with critical care when people need it most. 

In 2021, SVH opened a new state-of-the-art hospital with expanded health services including a new surgical suite and specialty clinics. The facilities are modern, well-equipped, and staffed by top-notch medical providers dedicated to keeping us healthy and safe.

The Year in Review at SVH

Strong leadership has brought significant financial and operational improvements to SVH in the past 2 years. The CEO and CFO monitor both revenue and spending, and the district continues to pay down debt while planning strategically for the future.

Some highlights from the past year include:

Big Cash Flow Improvements with a net income of nearly $1.8 million in August, up from a negative $3.7 million 12 months ago

Increases in the Days of Cash on Hand from single digits in 2022 to 79 days as of August.

Huge Reduction in Accounts Payable from $4 million in 2023 to less than $2 million--nd we expect that all APs will be paid off by the end of 2024. 

Expansion and Improvement of Services: July and August 2024 set records for our facilities, raising net income for the hospital.

Revenue Cycle: By outsourcing this function to a reputable third party, payments from insurers and Medicare are happening much more quickly.

Audit: Our 2023 audit was given a clean opinion.

Salary Increases: With finances in better shape, our hard working employees finally won a pay increase in September.

The Need for Continued Philanthropic Support

We all know that health care in American is expensive. But the health care industry, especially in wealthier and more urban areas, is also administered by large corporations that seek profits. While these corporate behemoths are able to provide enormous health care benefits to the populations they serve, they see no economic benefit in running small, critical care hospitals in rural areas.  With just over 8,000 residents and an average per capita income that is below the state average, Lake County does not represent a significant economic interest to big corporate providers.

As a government regulated critical care hospital, St. Vincent receives funding from two major sources. First,  the fees it charges patients--and their insurers--to provide the excellent care those patients need and deserve ensure that we have the staff and equipment necessary to serve our health care needs. Second, it receives some support from government--primarily the State of Colorado--to ensure that smaller, more rural communities like ours have access to excellent health care. 

But these funds are simply not enough. Other funds must be raised from non-profit foundations--and from people like you who know how important St. Vincent Health is to the vitality of our community.

The Role of the Leadville Community Health Foundation

The Foundation raises money to support St. Vincent Health. We fill the gaps. We do whatever is necessary to ensure that the hospital and clinic are healthy--so that they can keep us healthy. 

Among our many initiatives in partnership with St. Vincent Health over the past five years, we are proud to have raised $3.1 million to improve healthcare in Lake County.  These initiatives include: