The Casey’s Pond Senior Living community entered a new chapter this week as Northwest Colorado Health took ownership of the facility, saving it from receivership.

The agreement for Northwest Colorado Health to purchase the senior living community was negotiated by officials at the Yampa Valley Community Foundation. The deal was signed Monday evening and closed Tuesday.

“I’ve never seen it happen before. This is just phenomenal with the community support and just how they worked through it,” said Bellann Raile, managing director of Cordes & Company, which was put in charge of handling the receivership process that began at the end of June.

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“There were a lot of people behind the scenes working — (the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment), the attorney general’s office — everybody worked together in such a great way that it’s a story for the books,” Raile said.

Going into receivership

The story began in late June when it was announced that a Routt County court had put Casey’s Pond into receivership. Court documents revealed the outstanding balance due to bondholders as of May 29 was more than $44.7 million, and the unpaid interest amounted to more than $23.7 million, putting the total debt for Casey’s Pond at over $68.4 million.

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As residents began getting notices giving them 90 days to vacate their homes, the city of Steamboat Springs, Routt County and a group led by the Yampa Valley Community Foundation pulled together in an effort to save the senior living community.

“I think Casey’s Pond does mean a lot to people,” Raile said. “They’re a great employer. They provide a great place for people to go (as they get older), and they work with (UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center) to provide a place if somebody had a hip replacement or needed a place to stay after surgery. It was such an integral part of the community that, if it were lost, it would have been hard.”

Raile said that, while the bondholders needed the receivership to resolve the debt, nobody wanted to see Casey’s Pond close its doors and its residents forced to leave.

She also said she could not be happier with the resolution that will keep the senior living community operating in Steamboat Springs, and has received some nice emails from bondholders who were also thrilled with the outcome.

Community answers call

Traci Hiatt, director of philanthropy at the Yampa Valley Community Foundation, said much of the money used to purchase Casey’s Pond was contributed by more than 400 private individuals with donations ranging from $10 to several million. Those efforts raised more than $20 million of the $27.6 million final sale price, and another $2.5 million came from the city and $100,000 from Routt County.

“The debt service is the full reason that Casey’s Pond could not drive under that amount of debt,” said Stephanie Einfeld, CEO of Northwest Colorado Health. “We fortunately were able to come into a position where there is very low debt to the amount that we can make it work and move Casey’s from survive to thrive.”

Einfeld said that, in addition to an outpouring of donations from the community, Casey’s Pond was able to secure a philanthropic loan from an individual who has been a longtime supporter of Steamboat Springs and Northwest Colorado Health.

“We’re really fortunate to have people like this in our community who understand the value of community services and have the ability to give in such an amazing way,” Einfeld said. “It’s incredibly amicable loan with great terms that are more than manageable. It will allow Casey’s Pond to thrive and that’s the bottom line.”

She also said Tim Wohlgenant, Haitt and the Yampa Valley Community Foundation have been a huge help not only helping fundraising for the purchase but bringing in money to help support operations, which is key as the senior community grows its numbers.

“It was truly a community effort. … This community came together to do something that, as far as we know, has never been done before,” Hiatt said. “We haven’t heard of any situation in the country where this has happened.”

Looking to the future

Northwest Colorado Health has been in a reactive mode the past two months, and now Einfeld is looking for new paths that will create a more stable future.

“We’re really excited to get into a less reactive mode and a more strategic mode, being able to now take our time and listen and learn and stabilize and understand how best to serve the Casey’s Pond community like we do with all of our other programs,” Einfeld said.

The Haven Assisted Living, the Haven Community Center, and Home Health and Hospice in Moffat and Routt counties all fall under the Northwest Colorado Health umbrella, as well as its health centers in Steamboat Springs and Craig and dental offices in Steamboat Springs, Oak Creek and Craig.

Einfeld said the independent living and the skilled nursing sections of Casey’s Pond are new to Northwest Colorado Health, but the organization is fortunate to be able to continue a contract with the management company.

“Our short-term goal is build the number of residents back up and provide stability for the residents and for the staff and for all those family members,” Einfeld said, explaining that it will take some time for Casey’s Pond to recover from the affect of going into receivership.

“Before the potential the closure was announced, I believe, Casey’s Pond was at 126 residents,” Eineld said. “The lowest it got down to was 93 right before the purchase agreement was signed or maybe a day after. Now Casey’s is back up to 97, and that’s just kind of how slowly the crawl works to get back up.”

She added that she is excited about the future of Casey’s Pond and what it brings to the Steamboat Springs community. She is hoping to see families, donors and members of the community for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22.

“Casey’s was in a really good position at that 126 number, and it’ll just take time to get back to that point,” Einfeld said. “We are doing tours, and we’re doing everything we can to broadcast, especially now that the sale is final, that we’re here, we’re stable and we want to broaden the community and bring people back into it.”