For 31 years, HopeWest has provided the only comprehensive hospice and palliative care service within a 250-mile radius of Mesa County.
It provides in-home and nursing-home and hospital care, assisted living and a state-of-the-art inpatient hospice care center. There is a generosity of spirit that pervades the entire HopeWest organization.
Consider: In 2024, HopeWest is listed as the 11th largest employer in Mesa County. The nonprofit has more than 350 patents under its care daily, with PACE (the Program of all Inclusive Care for the Elderly) serving another 150. It takes 342 employees (a 15 percent increase since 2019) to take care of those patients. Those employees get help from more than 1,000 volunteers.
Such a large organization requires help in many forms, not the least of which is the Business Incubator Center.
“Our much-valued Enterprise Zone designation has provided a state tax credit and encouraged donors to support HopeWest’s mission: Through creativity, volunteerism and philanthropy, we profoundly change the experiences of aging, illness and grief – one family at a time,” said Deb Horwitz, HopeWest’s chief development officer.
The Mesa County Enterprise Zone designation offered through the Business Incubator Center allowed HopeWest to complete an extensive remodel of the building known as the Center for Living Your Best, and the new and much-improved home to their community-based hospice staff, the Center for Hope and Healing, a senior primary care clinic, and PACE. All project contractors were local, and all materials were purchased locally. The project was a significant contribution to the local economy. Millions of dollars went directly to local contractors and suppliers. Total cost of the project was approximately $17 million.
PACE, the program for at-risk Medicaid-eligible clients over age 55 to prevent unnecessary hospital and nursing home care, fills a critical gap in care in Mesa County. After five years of strategic planning, federal applications, fundraising, and hiring, the program was launched in October 2021. It provides a person-centered approach to the medical, emotional, physical and social needs of older persons and their families. To date, 77 new jobs have been added for the PACE program, with 70 percent having wages higher than local and state averages.
The PACE Senior Primary Care Clinic provides primary and urgent care visits for the most vulnerable clients in Mesa County. Imagine the relief of having a place to go, a safe ride with people who know you, and avoiding the emergency room confusion and costs. The PACE Day Center, a large, airy, sun- and music-filled room, sees steady attendance daily. It’s where eligible seniors can go for meals, physical therapy, hair and nail appointments, and to play games and socialize with their friends. It’s where relationships are built between participants and staff.
Aging, illness, and grief are experiences that touch all of us. For more than three decades, HopeWest has met the vast needs of those in our community impacted by these realities. The Business Incubator Center and the Mesa County Enterprise Zone program have been invaluable supporters of that mission. Together, they have had, and will continue to have, a profound effect on the people they serve in the place we all call home.