Lauri Blackwell, Fraser

I was wondering if there was any movement of the county, cities or Middle Park Health actively looking for more home healthcare, hospice and pallative care services to Grand County, and possibly an assisted living and full care similar to what they have in Kremmling, on the east side of county. It would be nice to be able to die where you love living.

Kenneth Stahl, Grand Lake

I have numerous health issues and we have to drive two hours one way to see specialists. This is hard on our residents to drive that distance. We need more specialist doctors up here. I now possibly have cancer and have to go to Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers in Lakewood. This disease, if I have it, makes it hard to drive that distance to get proper treatments. This is why we need specialists in rural areas like Grand County.

Lodema Cullum, Parshall

One of the  biggest challenges for aging in the mountains as the lack of specialists. We have absolutely no retina specialists in Grand or Summit County on a regular basis. In November 2024, I was diagnosed with a very rare eye disease called macular telangiectasia. 

Macular telangiectasia type two is a progressive, bilateral, and rare neurodegenerative eye disease affecting central vision by causing damage to retinal blood vessels and cells. It typically affects people in their 50s to 70s, causing slow vision loss, blurring and distorted straight lines. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first implantable gene therapy, NT-501, to slow its progression. 

We have very few resources in the High Country for rare diseases like this, or any type of retina disease. Not to mention the whole state if you really want to get down to it. I have to fight with my insurance company so that I can go to Utah to the John A. Moran Eye Center because they have a retina specialist there that specializes in the new implant they have for this disease. We have no doctors in the state of Colorado that handle this type of treatment. It’s very frustrating and I’m sure there’s so many other specialists that we could use in the High Country.

Jessica Rose, Kremmling

It’s been a challenge living here in Kremmling. 30 years ago I never thought about aging and living in Grand County, Colorado. In January 2026, not too long ago, I recently had surgery on my back, after getting out of the hospital in Granby.

I did have some help from a lady who works for Horizons specialized services. They have an office in Steamboat Springs. She is the only one in all of Grand County who helps me with doctor’s appointments and some shopping and taking me to Steamboat Springs for my appointments or Granby, but there are times when she is not available and gone for a week.

Then I’m on my own and, if I need help with something, we’ll then what do I do? I’m stuck. I am in the Horizons program because of disabilities and I am now 70-years-old and elderly living in my own home. It’s not easy for me. No, it’s not.

Kathryn Gilbertson, Tabernash

Our kids were in the Eskimo Ski Club and then the Winter Park Competition Center as we commuted up here from the front range for weekends. We finally moved up here in 1997 and built our own home. 
Our children attended Fraser Valley Elementary, East Grand Middle, Indian Peaks Charter and Middle Park High schools. We worship at Church of the Eternal Hills. I’ve worked at the resort and in retail at Cooper Creek Square.

My husband is almost 80 years old and he still works as a driver for IGADL because we need the extra income to remain in our home. Our property taxes have doubled in just three years. The cost to plow our driveway and pickup garbage has more than doubled in recent years. We are on a fixed income and want to remain in our home but the finances are becoming harder every year, not to mention our health.

I am on supplemental oxygen 24/7 and have congestive heart failure with a pacemaker. Formerly, Grand County Public Health offered us Home Services biweekly. They took us off the program because they have staff shortages and say we are not a priority case and will have to wait to resume the home services when we are more qualified. We have no idea what that means, how they prioritize, or when we may ever get back on the program.

My 80-year-old husband, besides working, has had to do almost everything as my mobility is lessened. We want to remain in the home in which we raised our family. However, it is becoming financially difficult besides physically overwhelming. Climbing on ladders to clean gutters or change batteries in smoke detectors, shoveling snow from walkways, even carrying 50-pound bags of dog food at our age is difficult and dangerous.

The home services that Grand County Public Health provided to us and then took away from was critical to our safety well being and ability to remain in our home as we age. We have used a chunk of our budget every year to deal with fire mitigation. We are told to sell and move to address our issues, but that would be …

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