About West Mountain Regional Health Alliance

Mission
&
Vision

We work to build an integrated health system that supports optimal health for all people who live in the West Mountain region

We envision that all West Mountain residents, especially vulnerable populations, have equal access to high quality, comprehensive, integrated, and cost-effective healthcare services needed for optimal health.

Change is our mission

We ALIGN health providers and stakeholders through proactive initiatives.

We work to expand ACCESS to affordable, high-quality integrated care for all.

We ADVOCATE for underserved residents of the West Mountain region. 

WMRHA works to create change in ways that include all voices and engages all stakeholders to build a stronger health system.

Theory of change diagram, click to enlarge:

2022 Theory of Change

Meet the Board

The WMRHA board is composed of representatives from regional health organizations. They provide  strategy, funding and capacity support on behalf of the their respective organizations. The Board is critical to the success of WMRHA collaborative efforts by demonstrating collaboration with each initiative they promote and connection they make.

Sherri Corey WMRHA Board Member

Sherri Corey

WMRHA Chair

Quality Health Network
Senior Clinical Account Manager

 

Quality Health Network logo
Sharon Longhurst Pritt WMRHA Board Member

Sharon Longhurst-Pritt

WMRHA Vice Chair

 Department of Human Services
Director, Garfield County

Garfield County Logo
Chris McDowell WMRHA Board

Chris McDowell

The Valley Health Alliance

Executive Director

Valley Health Alliance logo
Elaine Gerson

Elaine Gerson

Aspen Valley Hospital Ambulatory Clinics

Administrator, CHC General Counsel & Chief Transformation Officer

Aspen Valley Hospital logo
Annette Franta WMRHA Board Member

Annette Franta

Mountain Family
Health Centers

Chief Financial Officer

Mountain-Family-Health-Centers logo
Stacey Gavrell WMRHA Board Member

Stacy Gavrell

Valley View Hospital
Chief Community Relations Officer

Valley View Hospital Logo
Rachel Forbes WMRHA Board Member

Rachel Forbes

Western Slope
Masters of Social Work
Director, Univ of Denver

Social-Justice-Program-Graduate-School-of-Social-Work-University-of-Denver

Staff - WMRHA TEAM

Cristina-Gair-Headshot

Christina Gair

Executive Director

Bio

Cristina joined WMRHA as the Alliance's first Executive Director in 2017 with a focus on developing organizational leadership, strategy, innovation and sustainability. Cristina brings more than 17 years of leadership experience working with health and human service non-profit organizations in the West Mountain region. Cristina served as the Executive Director of Aspen to Parachute Dental Health Alliance, Program Officer of Aspen Valley Medical Foundation, and Executive Director of The Eagle River Youth Coalition, now called Mountain Youth.

Cristina has also worked with a variety of nonprofits to provide fundraising, grant writing, strategic planning and board retreats. Cristina has a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Change Management from Colorado State University and a Bachelors of Journalism from the University of Missouri. Cristina is passionate about creating a community integrated health system that serves all people, and believes that this requires a focus on health equity and social determinants of health.

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Namrata Shrestha

Assistant Director

Bio

Namrata is the Assistant Director of WMRHA who focuses on coalition building, strategy planning, finance, fundraising, and supervising the WMRHA mission. She has successfully implemented National level programs like the Accountable Health Communities Model through the Center for Medicaid and Medicare to bring movement in social determinants of health (SDOH) as whole health in Region 12 (Pitkin, Garfield, Eagle, and Summit counties). She initially joined as the Regional Health Connector for Region 12 in 2017 to identify the priority physical and behavioral issues facing the region, create connections with healthcare providers and other community organizations, and finally develop projects to address these issues and the region’s SDOH. Namrata has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Wichita State in Kansas. Namrata is a native of Nepal, and she worked with Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in the international platform with a variety of partners including Governments, INGO (UNICEF, WSSCC), NGO (Red Cross Nepal, CODEF) and foreign aid program like USAID around WASH.

K Berglund

Keith Berglund

Housing Access Manager

Bio

Keith is a seasoned nonprofit professional with a passion for community improvement and a proven track record in organizational leadership and staff management. He joined WMRHA in 2023, bringing a wealth of experience and a commitment to making a meaningful impact in the lives of individuals and families. In his most recent role as Assistant Director at YouthZone, Keith played a active role in leadership, program oversight, and staff management. Keith believes that open communication is at the heart of any successful collaborative endeavor and his style of engagement is characterized by inclusivity and a process-oriented approach. In this way, he ensures that all team members feel heard and valued. His ability to foster alignment among diverse groups, and design effective operational systems is a testament to his unwavering dedication to creating lasting positive change in the community. With a strong grasp of the nature of community-facing human services work, Keith understands and appreciates the personal and emotional connections individuals have with their work. He excels at listening, consensus-building, and ensuring that everyone is appropriately involved and valued in the success of the collaboration. Outside of his professional endeavors, Keith is an avid cyclist, hiker, and skier, finding adventure and inspiration in the mountains.

Berta Headshot

Berta Rivera

Regional Health Connector

Bio

Berta joined the WMRHA team in 2023 as the Regional Health Connector for Region 12 (Pitkin, Eagle, Garfield and Summit counties). Her role entails connecting community organizations, government agencies and health clinics within Region 12. As well as identifying social determinants of health facing the region and developing projects to address the issues identified. Berta is a Roaring Fork Valley local who grew up in Basalt, CO. Graduated from the University of Colorado in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Language, Literature and Culture. In her free time Berta enjoys hiking, snowboarding and cooking.

Carly Foy

Carly Foy

AmeriCorps Vista

Bio
My name is Carly Foy, I am an AmeriCorps VISTA. I am working with WMRHA as the 211/Community Resource Network Coordinator. I update community resources for Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle counties of Colorado in the 211 system and I am implementing the workflow to update these resources regularly in the 211 system. I am building upon the region’s health system and supporting public health and equity system efforts by working with the Community Resource Network to ensure all social determinants of health resources and guides are accessible, accurate, and updated.
Namuna Shrestha

Namuna Shrestha

Housing Access Coordinator

Bio

Namuna joined WMRHA as a Data Management Coordinator since April 2022 to manage and review data designed for Built for Zero Project and Homeless Management Information System among regional partners to reduce homelessness in Eagle, Garfield and Pitkin Counties. Namuna holds a Master of Science in Sustainable Development Goals from LUMSA University, Italy and a Bachelors of Social Science major in Sociology and minor in Psychology from Wichita State University, USA. Namuna has 5 years of experience working on Gender, Energy, Water and Sanitation Sectors in Nepal with NGO’s, INGO’s and United Nations.

Her career began with an Internship in UN-Habitat. Prior to taking WMRHA role, Namuna was a Program Coordinator at Center for Rural Technology, Nepal leading Gender, Energy and Water Network Forum. Moreover, Namuna has worked at WaterAid Nepal as a Planning, Monitoring, Evaluating and Learning Officer and Nepal Red Cross Society as a Communication and Monitoring Officer in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene department. Namuna has also worked with various international organizations such as WSSCC, UNICEF, UN-WOMEN, WHO, International Red Cross dedicated to serve people equally everywhere.

Mike Barbee

Mike Barbee

Acting Data Manager

Bio

Mike joined WMRHA in 2022 as a fractional support consultant to establish key performance metrics, track the strategic work of the Alliance, and provide tools to systematically enhance their impact. Currently, he is the acting Data Manager and helps to document and improve systems and processes that are core to WMRHA’s work. Mike has worked for over 15 years with domestic and international non-profits to clarify their purpose, define their core offerings, and track their progress.

With success in cross-cultural, multi-sector change management support, he works as a project manager, coach, trusted advisor, and implementer. His focus is on helping foundations, non-profits, and social enterprises achieve their desired change while improving their value to funders and those they serve. Mike excels in designing performance metrics, reducing costs, and boosting productivity and quality. His exceptional communication and organizational skills help him create a collaborative environment among team members, stakeholders, and senior management.

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Jose Saez

Housing Navigator

Bio

Jose joined WMRHA in 2023 as our Senior Housing Navigator. After suffering with addiction and alcoholism himself, he developed a passion to help those who are suffering. Jose wants to help people write a new story in their lives and help them to move towards a new chapter. Jose has two years of experience doing street outreach with Mind Springs Health and loved every minute of it!

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Aleksandra Civojec

Housing Navigator

Bio

Alex joined WMRHA in 2023 as the Junior Housing Navigator. Through her professional position, she advocates and assists on behalf of families in need, the homeless population, and even occasionally refugees. Aleksandra has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sciences with a focus on fields of Social Policy and Social work from the University of Montenegro where she was awarded. Due to her academic achievements, she spent half of her undergraduate studies as a Bilateral CMEPIUS Scholarship Holder student at the University of Ljubljana. She pursued her personal and academic growth within the Masters of Arts Anthropology program at ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary, where her research interests were based on the complexity of women's health field. She worked with various NGOs helping refugees, Roma people in Eastern Europe, and organizations pledging to climate justice. For three semesters as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, she taught courses Public Health, Health Policy, and Anthropological Theories and Methods.

A History of Collaboration on the Western Slope since 2010

WMRHA formed as a regional entity in 2010 to examine the access to care gap of prenatal care for low-income women in western Eagle County. This lead to a collaborative Prenatal Program between Pitkin County and Eagle County. The success of the entity highlighted the need for the group to continue its efforts to identify issues and seek regional solutions.  In order to do so, the alliance expanded to a broader community alliance that it is today.

West Mountain Regional Health Alliance Logo Square

A History of Achievements

2014

WMRHA became a nonprofit.

2016

WMRHA was awarded a Network Planning grant from Health Resources Services Administration to lead Rural Health Network Development Planning Projects. (Through 2019)

2017

WMRHA hired its first executive director.
WMRHA becomes the Community Lead organization for the Rocky Mountain Health Plans Accountable Healthy Communities Model (AHCM) for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation through 2022.

2019

WMRHA begins collaborating with Quality Health Network, Community Resource Network (CRN) to implement social health information exchange platform.

2020

The Protect our Neighbors (PON) report was produced in 2020 following a community and government-led effort to understand the effects and lived experiences of people within the Hispanic/Latinx community within the rural resort and frontier region from Aspen to Parachute.

2021

WMRHA is the regional lead for Valley Alliance to End Homelessness, CO DOLA Emergency Solutions Grants, Mountain Coalition for Food and Nutrition Security, and Latino Coalition.

WMRHA produces the Roaring Fork Community Resources Guide to help people who live and work in the roaring fork valley to access services and resources in the region.

2022

WMRHA helps establish regional efforts in housing and food security by developing strategic plans with the Valley Alliance to End Homelessness (VAEH) and the Mountain Coalition for Food Security and Nutrition (MCFNS)

2023

WMRHA and the VAEH are awarded a critical grant to support the tri-county efforts to respond to homelessness by providing funding to agencies that serve homeless individuals and families.

WMRHA convenes partners and community members around the issue of mental health among Latina mothers and produces a report to help advocate for the issue.

What is happing now?

WMRHA COPE meeting people getting name tags
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Explore Our Current Initiatives