Susan Wortman, Vice President of Development with Clinica Family Health, offered three clarifications for the article from the Gilpin County Commissioners’ meeting on October 12, 2021, published in The Mountain- Ear on October 21.

Wortman said “Simon Smith, Clinica’s CEO, did provide the commissioners with an update on our work to bring health care to the mountain community, and as The Mountain-Ear accurately reported, he did ask for $150,000 from the County to support the clinic.”

Here are the errors in the story that Clinica would like corrected:

The story says that Clinica signed a $300,000 annual lease for space in the High Country Professional Building. “Yes, we have signed a lease, but the cost of the rent you stated is inaccurate. Smith did not disclose the actual rental terms as that is proprietary within the terms of the lease, but he did share that the terms are affordable. It is not clear where the $300,000 amount came from.

“The annual operating income of $150,000 in the story is also inaccurate. We cannot determine the amount of revenue that the clinic will generate until we begin operations and have a sense of ongoing funding support. Our initial budget modeling, which Smith shared with the commissioners, suggests a small operating deficit without community support.

“That is why we are reaching out to governmental agencies for annual funding. We want to secure solid funding streams so that we can explore providing additional services such as offering pharmacy services that the community wants desperately.

“The following sentence does not accurately reflect what Smith said about the location selection: ‘Smith said he wanted to avoid putting the clinic in either Black Hawk or Central City, so he is requesting $150,000 from both Gilpin County and Nederland.’

“In his statements to the commissioners, Smith said that we prioritized locations in Gilpin County that were accessible to the largest number of county residents. While he might have specifically said we didn’t want the clinic in either of those towns, the rationale was not in disrespect to either town.

“We chose the Professional Building because it is close to some of the largest residential communities in the county and is also close to other important County services that future patients would need. Additionally, the sentence incorrectly says that Clinica has requested $150,000 from Nederland. We have requested funding support from Gilpin County and Boulder County.”

Clinica leaders remain dedicated to assuring that people living in the mountain community have access to high-quality health care.