Don Ament and his wife, Patty, live on a family farm in northeastern Colorado that his grandfather created more than 100 years ago.
While the Aments love the serenity of the farm, they happily drive more than three hours each way to see their doctors. And each time Patty and Don see the tall buildings at University of Colorado Anschutz rising before them to the west, they feel enormous pride. That’s because Don played a key role decades ago in paving the way for the Anschutz campus to become the new home of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Rocky Mountain VA Regional Medical Center, along with multiple research labs and medical innovation centers.
Don served on his local school board, then became interested in state politics and served in the Colorado Legislature from 1987 to 1999 as a Republican representative and senator. Former Gov. Bill Owens later picked Don as his agriculture secretary, and he served the state of Colorado in that role for eight years from 1999 to 2007.
During his time in the Colorado legislature, Don became deeply involved in the redevelopment of the former Fitzsimons Army Base into what became the new University of Colorado in January of 2008.
“The hospital was constrained in the former site,” said Don’s daughter, Mandy Moorer, who shares her parents’ deep commitment to University of Colorado Hospital and the Anschutz campus. She began her association with the hospital 24 years ago as a nursing student and serves now as the director of patient services and critical care.
“Moving to the current location was transformational for the academic medical center and for the University of Colorado,” Moorer said.
Her father agreed: “It was very clear they could no longer carry out their function, not as a school or a hospital. It was outdated, and it wasn’t too hard to sell people on the concept that a new hospital and school were needed.”
As chairman of the legislature’s Capital Development Committee in the 1990s, Don helped spearhead support for the hospital’s transformation. During his legislative tenure, he also developed relationships with UCHealth doctors and began receiving care from University of Colorado doctors. Don’s positive experiences with his doctors inspired his wife to do the same.
Innovative academic medical campus generates major impacts in the Denver area, the state and the Rocky Mountain region
As the Aments arrived for medical appointments at the hospital on a recent day and received assistance from a valet for an appointment with their doctor of 15 years, few people they encountered at the bustling hospital knew the key role Don played in developing the Anschutz campus into what has now become home to the large academic medical center. It’s now UCHealth’s hub for what has grown into a 15-hospital system stretching from Pueblo to the south to Fort Collins, Greeley and Steamboat to the north and west.
Despite the Aments’ long commute to Aurora, they have chosen to continue receiving all of their health care at Anschutz. That decision is rooted in Don’s pride in the hospital’s history.
“This place has had a huge impact on more than just the metro Denver area. Its growth has impacted communities throughout the state in both urban and rural communities,” Don said. “Each time we come here, it seems like there are new buildings and new energy. It’s really comforting to know that Denver has an institution like this. It’s been so rewarding for us personally to get to know the doctors and staff here.”
Medicine is a family affair for the Aments. Their oldest daughter, Debbie, who lives on a portion of the family farm, manages a dialysis clinic; Don’s sister is a retired neonatal intensive care unit nurse, and her husband is an orthopedic surgeon. Both, like Moorer, went to what was then known as the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center when it was located at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver.
“Our family’s relationship with UCHealth has come full circle,” the Aments’ daughter said.
Don’s grandfather and uncles leave Europe for the fertile land of northeastern Colorado
Don has deep roots in Colorado. His ancestors were German farmers who lived in Russia, and his grandfather and uncles emigrated to America in 1914. They bought land in Proctor in northeastern Colorado’s Logan County, where they grew sugar beets, corn, alfalfa and wheat.
Don was raised in Denver and is a graduate of East High School. He spent weekends on the farm, working the land, while wife Patty grew up in Arvada. Don’s mom got him interested in playing the saxophone in grade school (a hobby that would catch Patty’s eye many years later when he was in a band at University of Colorado Boulder and played in the university’s symphonic band).
The two met as young students on campus in 1961 while Patty was helping with student council elections. They married three years later, a few months after each graduated from University of Colorado, he with an engineering degree, she with a degree in French.
The couple decided to move to the family farm where Don and Patty raised their three children: Debbie, Mandy and their son, J.J.
Introduction to University of Colorado Hospital: It all started with a hernia
Don likes to tell a funny story about how his relationship with UCHealth began with a hernia.
It was 1987, and as a state lawmaker, Don was friendly with all the lobbyists, including one from University of Colorado Hospital back when it was located at 9th Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. That is also where thousands of students, including Moorer, went to nursing and medical school.
After mentioning that he was dealing with a hernia, Don’s lobbyist friend encouraged him to get help at University of Colorado Hospital.
“The next thing I knew I was laying on a gurney to get my hernia operated on,” he said. “And we’ve been a UCHealth family ever since.”
Don trusted the hospital with two more hernia procedures, as well as several other medical issues that he and his wife Patty have faced.
Over the next few decades, these health challenges have included:
- Breast cancer radiation for Patty and prostate cancer treatments for Don
- Eye surgeries
- Two hip replacements
- Shoulder surgery
The Aments also began seeing UCHealth Dr. Katie Suddarth as their primary care doctor. They now make the long-distance trek from their Colorado farm to Anschutz every three months for all of their health needs. The growth of the hospital and medical campus sparks great pride for Don and Patty. Back before the University of Colorado moved to its new home, some skeptics cast doubts about whether it made sense to move the campus from Denver to Aurora. But Don and others had a vision for what this new place could become. They envisioned much greater collaboration and innovation when hospitals, students, doctors and researchers could all share one large campus.
“The reason I got involved was because hospital officials had the site picked out where they wanted to build, but they needed to get the legislature behind it,” Don said.
Proponents of the move knew they needed to win approval from lawmakers, which was where Don came in. He helped lead many field trips to what was then the Fitzsimons Army Base. Hospital leaders counted on Don to share his vision with other politicos. He encouraged colleagues to imagine a gleaming new academic medical campus, which would someday house multiple hospitals along with research centers, schools and spinoff health care businesses.
“They needed us to see that this was a good idea and that the current hospital was outdated, small and crowded,” Don said. “We stood on top of old Building 500 (home of the former Fitzsimons Army Hospital) and looked at the empty fields, and we believed it could happen.”
When hospital leaders asked Don if he could convince his colleagues about the merits of the move, he was resolute.
“I said, ‘Absolutely.’’’
Don said he was one of many people who worked to bring the new hospital to the Aurora site.
“I was not the only one, but I was lucky enough to be in politics at the right time in the right place and could bring people together. I had the right connections, and I believed in UCHealth.”
Watching with pride over the years as both the medical campus and the care have evolved
Don and Patty still live on the family farm, with most of the land now leased to local farmers who raise crops and cattle.
Now both in their 80s, the Aments say they are deeply grateful for the care they have received over the years and have been honored to have witnessed the University of Colorado Hospital’s evolution over the years. They have loved witnessing growth in innovation and excellence.
“My dad often reflects on the pride he feels seeing the campus grow, knowing he played a small role in its development,” Moorer said.
It’s a point of pride that what began with a conversation in the legislature 40 years ago has solidified into a personal relationship the couple has with many doctors and staff.
“Everyone’s very caring,” Patty said. “They are very good at listening, hearing our questions and empowering us to have a stake in our healthcare.”
Moorer is particularly pleased that her parents have experienced continuity of care during all of these decades with Suddarth as their primary care doctor.
“The hospital has been a great partner with my parents,” Moorer said. “And Dr. Katie has been very kind, thorough and attentive to all their needs.”
Suddarth said she has enjoyed getting to know the Aments and learning about their unique role in shaping the history of Colorado and creating a legacy at the medical campus. “Not only are they invested in their own personal health, but they also are engaged in efforts to help improve the health of the community and the state of Colorado,’’ said Suddarth, who is also an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. “It is through connections and relationships such as these that bring the most meaning to medicine.”
The family’s long ties to the state, politics and medical community are an example of the spirit of Colorado.
“It’s the whole idea of bringing communities together and realizing what and how everyone can contribute,” Don said, “There used to be nothing here, and now, my gosh, it’s something special. I happened to have a part in it, and I feel very fortunate about that.”