RESS RELEASE
August 4, 2022

Colorado Springs, Colo. – Peak Vista Community Health Centers’ (Peak Vista) Family Medicine Residency (FMR) Program will conclude with its current resident class, set to graduate in 2024.

Over the past year, Peak Vista leadership and the Board of Directors have been evaluating the sustainability of the FMR Program. After much consideration, the Board of Directors and leadership have collaboratively made the difficult decision to sunset the FMR Program, which will conclude after the current Family Medicine Residents complete their residency and graduate in June 2024. The decision was not taken lightly, with consideration given to all aspects of the program and its community impact as the only primary care residency program in the Pikes Peak Region.
 

“We are grateful to all the preceptors, faculty, and staff who have supported these young physicians along a path of success into their careers, upholding our organization’s mission and core values,” says Lisa Ramey, D.O., Peak Vista’s Chief Medical & Dental Officer.

“Our Peak Vista Leadership, and everyone who has been involved, believes deeply in the FMR Program,” says Peak Vista President & CEO, Emily Ptaszek, PsyD, MBA, FACHE. “It is our hope that in the future, the Program may one day return with the level of community support and partnership that would ensure its long-term success.”

Peak Vista reassured current program residents of its commitment to doing everything within its control, in good faith, to ensure its current class complete their residency by shepherding the Program to its conclusion in 2024. The program’s preceptors and faculty have also been asked to join in this commitment to see the program through to the end.

The FMR program is a traditional, three-year Family Medicine Residency with community support from local health care organizations and specialty physicians. Each resident learns the ins and outs of Family Medicine through rotations for outpatient pediatrics, family medicine, gynecology, obstetrics, community medicine, homeless health care, and geriatrics. Residents learn through patient interaction, bedside teaching, and structured educational sessions, how best to care for patients. At the end of their training, each resident undergoes a board examination to earn their certification.

Peak Vista’s FMR program, which welcomed its inaugural class in 2016, is currently the only primary care residency program in the Pikes Peak region.

About Peak Vista Community Health Centers
Peak Vista Community Health Centers is a nonprofit organization providing exceptional health care to people facing access barriers through clinical programs and education. Celebrating over 50 years of community health service, Peak Vista offers primary medical, integrated behavioral health and dental care services. We proudly serve over 89,000 patients annually through 23 outpatient centers in Colorado’s Pikes Peak and East Central regions. To learn more about Peak Vista, visit www.peakvista.org.

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The UCCS Economic Forum is happy to announce their 26th annual, signature economic presentation, which will be in-person on September 1 at the Ent Center for the Arts at UCCS. The event will be from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., followed by a networking happy hour. 

The 2021-2022 Economic Report is also now available to the public on the Forum website. 

This year, there will be one economic presentation given by Dr. Tatiana Bailey, the Forum’s director. She will present on the national, state, and local economies with a special focus on the current economic uncertainties and workforce challenges and opportunities. Bailey is a leading expert on economics, policy, and urban economic development as well as the health care industry. She has directed the Forum since June 2014 and holds the position of Attendant Rank Professor in the College of Business. In 2016, Bailey was a “Woman of Influence” and in 2018 she was named “Business Leader of the Year.”

There will not be a second economic presentation this year because there will be an expert panel instead: “Workforce Development: The Linchpin to Sustainable Economic Development.” Panelists will include:

· Ron Fitch, President, Grandview Hospital and Pikes Peak Regional Hospital & VP of Operations and Military Affairs, UCHealth Southern Region

· Joe Garcia, Chancellor, Colorado Community College System

· Kimelyn L. Harris, Senior Vice President & ESG Program Director, Bank of America

· Katherine Keegan, MSSW, Director, Colorado Office of the Future of Work

· Dr. Tatiana Bailey, Director, UCCS Economic Forum

Mayor Suthers will give opening remarks about the City of Colorado Springs, and UCCS leadership and Bank of America will briefly welcome the crowd. UCCS Chancellor Venkat Reddy and UCCS College of Business Dean Karen Markel will also provide brief remarks. Kimberley Sherwood, Coach, Consultant and Facilitator of Kimberly Sherwood, will moderate the Workforce Development Panel discussion.

Following the presentations there will be an in-person happy hour networking event hosted in the Ent Center for the Arts foyer. By showing a registration ticket at the bar, one free drink will be provided courtesy of Community Banks of Colorado.

Registration is open for the UCCS Economic Forum. To reserve a ticket, please visit uccseconomicforum.com.

With a vision for business partnership and local economic insights, the first event by the UCCS Economic Forum, formerly named the Southern Colorado Economic Forum, took place at The Broadmoor Hotel on September 10, 1997.

The Forum now holds dozens of presentations per year, produces monthly economic dashboards and acts as an economic development resource for the community at large. The Forum also produces a roughly forty-page economic report that has more comprehensive, annual data.

About

The UCCS Economic Forum is the leading source of unbiased and rigorous information for the Pikes Peak region. Data is continuously updated and actively utilized in the community to inform and drive economic development and business decisions. For more information, visit uccseconomicoforum.com.

The UCCS College of Business was established in 1965 and has more than 1,300 undergraduates and 350 MBA students. The College of Business and Administration awards the Bachelor of Science in Business and Bachelor of Innovation degrees. The Graduate School of Business Administration awards the Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Accounting and Executive Doctor of Business Administration degrees. More than 10,000 alumni of the College of Business live and work around the world. For more information, visit business.uccs.edu.

For 150 years, Colorado Springs School District 11 has provided excellent education in the heart of the city! As we lead into the future while learning from the past, we invite the media to join us for our 150-year celebratory kick-off. From student performances to fun and games to local food truck delights, this is an event that will go down in the history books!

August 11, 6-8 p.m. at Garry Berry Stadium, 2020 Glenn Summer Road, is where all the fun will take place. Please see the attached invitation for details. We hope to see you there!