A cornerstone of Steamboat health care retires this month

Soon after 40 decades of heading above and past for Routt County patients and colleagues, doctor Mark McCaulley is retiring in late December to move on to other adventures.

A critical treatment and inside drugs medical professional with a subspecialty curiosity in gastrointestinal endoscopy and colonoscopy, McCaulley will retire from Yampa Valley Professional medical Associates on Dec. 27 soon after a 43-year medical career. While the a long time, McCaulley, 70, performed roughly 35,000 colonoscopies or higher endoscopies. Thinking about a colon is about 5-ft lengthy, McCaulley translates that to scoping more than 33 miles of patient intestines, doing up to eight treatments for each working day in new years.

“He has observed 50 {08cd930984ace14b54ef017cfb82c397b10f0f7d5e03e6413ad93bb8e636217f} of the buns in town,” stated fellow YVMA medical professional Michelle Jimerson, throughout a jovial discussion with McCaulley previous 7 days. “On a really serious note, Mark constantly goes earlier mentioned and beyond for his clients and colleagues. You can normally count on him to enable and give outstanding and thoughtful treatment to clients.”

The hard-functioning, inquisitive and affable health care provider strategies to proceed composing clinical articles and studying the connections between gut health, swelling and Alzheimer’s sickness, which is operate he started in 2015 when his mother was suffering from the condition.

“Mark has been a spine of key treatment in Steamboat Springs for many years, the two in the workplace and doing the job in the hospital,” said Dr. Brian Harrington. “When I joined Yampa Valley Medical Associates 17 a long time in the past, I viewed him as a mentor. He has guided several doctors as a colleague and teacher by way of the several years. This 12 months, we have experienced a great number of people continue to inquiring for Mark even as he neared his retirement.”

Pursuing his time in residency at Denver Presbyterian Healthcare facility and in critical care at St. Anthony Hospital, McCaulley and his wife, Marilyn, moved to Steamboat on his 30th birthday in drop 1982 when he acquired the follow of internist Lambert Orton. In the modest town, he performed a large assortment of processes that internists are properly trained to do but generally do not get the possibility to accomplish in much larger hospital settings.

Just a few months into his new occupation, on a snowy Xmas Eve when planes had been grounded, he addressed a affected person severely unwell with septic shock from meningitis. McCaulley employed important care procedures to stabilize the affected individual until flights to the Entrance Selection had been doable.

“That’s regular Mark, seriously devoted to his people, retaining their pursuits in head at all time,” said retired health practitioner Lambert Orton. “Mark usually was and continues to be the internist’s internist. He experienced the respect of all his friends. He was normally the doctor’s health practitioner, extremely astute, quite well-read through.”

Routt County resident Harriet Freiberger tells a story from 1983 when McCaulley resuscitated her spouse, Fry, at the previous Routt Memorial Clinic. McCaulley then accompanied Fry on a one-engine airplane, as he was transferred to a helicopter, and rode to the rooftop of Denver’s Porter Adventist Healthcare facility, Freiberger said.

While McCaulley stays modest, the medical doctor undoubtably assisted to preserve a lot of life in Northwest Colorado through the decades. About 50 percent of sufferers who obtain a colonoscopy have polyps taken out, and all colon cancers get started out as polyps, he stated. State-of-the-art polyps that are more substantial than 1 to 2 centimeters can switch malignant within a year.

Eradicating cancers is a single of the most gratifying parts of his job, together with accolades acquired from clinical students he helped to coach. For the earlier 21 many years, McCaulley served as an assistant scientific professor at the University of Colorado College of Medication, exactly where he acquired 3 awards for instructing excellence and exceptional contribution by a rural internist.

1 previous scholar is Dr. Laura Sehnert, chief professional medical officer at UCHealth Yampa Valley Healthcare Middle, who claimed she was lucky to operate with McCaulley in her early career.

“Dr. McCaulley has been a cornerstone of our professional medical team for 40 yrs, and every single day, he’s proven up to work with a smile on his experience,” Sehnert said. “He introduced a sort, considerate and collaborative approach to affected individual treatment.”

In 2012, McCaulley gained a Doc Willett Health Treatment Heritage Award, presented to gurus who advance health care in the Yampa Valley by their perseverance, innovation or severe enthusiasm.

McCaulley just desires to be remembered by patients as being type and “doing his ideal to comprehend their sickness and to aid them sense greater.” He will go on to execute colonoscopies two days a month in Granby for a whilst.

Karen Espinosa, a registered nurse for 32 decades, termed McCaulley “caring, quite wise, incredibly affable and incredibly appreciative of his support medical team.”

Ginny Glass, YVMA business office supervisor who has labored with McCaulley for 40 decades, said she is unfortunate to see the retirement of a “solid, wonderful doctor and good buddy.”

“He was dedicated to being a doctor, constantly valuable, amazingly good. He did every thing to come across out an answer,” Glass claimed. “He’s a incredibly, incredibly superior human remaining, and Steamboat is and was blessed to have him.”

To arrive at Suzie Romig, get in touch with 970-871-4205 or email [email protected].