News
Get Doc! A Vail Tale
Vail started lucky with its doctors and has stayed that way. Dr. Tom Steinberg was the town's first full-time doctor brought to town by Vail investor John Murchison. A few years later Dr. Jack Eck rolled into town bringing with him his experience as a Vietnam combat doctor.
During the years hundreds of the world's leading physicians have called Vail home. Thousands of people have rolled through their offices some under their own power some on stretchers.
Among the best stories:
The Gilman mine was still operating when Vail opened in 1962. One January day a young man took a bunch of pills to kill himself so Phil LaMantia and John Donovan hauled the kid over to Doc Stanley in Gilman on a Sunday night.
Disgusted he was being disturbed on a Sunday night Stanley told the kid You're gonna die!
NO NO! I don't wanna die! Please save me! the kid pleaded.
OK you're gonna live. But if you interrupt my Ed Sullivan again I'm gonna let you die! Doc Stanley said.
Dr. Tom Steinberg Vail's first full-time doctor was treating a wounded golden eagle and someone in the waiting room was in a snit. Steinberg said This golden
eagle is an endangered species. You're not!
Nail guns were new and a young man fired a round at a brick wall. It ricocheted back and hit him in the heart. He came in with that nail sticking out of his heart. The guy had lost all blood pressure and had about three minutes to live.
Dr. Eck was new in Vail fresh from Vietnam where he worked evacuating wounded soldiers from combat. There's a sack around the heart and this kid's had filled with fluid. The pressure was keeping his heart from beating. Steinberg and Eck went in with a syringe pulled some of the fluid out of that sack and re-established a heartbeat. The kid was flown by helicopter to Denver one of the first to make the trip that way and his heart was sewn up. Four days later he was back in Vail. But 30 days after that he was killed in a car accident. When your chips are up your chips are up Steinberg said.
A young woman and man had skied off the top of a ridge and ran into each other in mid air. One suffered a lacerated liver and the other a ruptured spleen. He loaded them each into a separate ambulance and then rode in tandem to Denver. Steinberg had to get out every 30 minutes or so to keep the other alive.
A ski racer hit a bamboo pole broke it and drove it into his upper palate. Steinberg had to kneel down and sit the lad up to sew it shut. If he'd stood and had the lad lie down then the blood would have run down his bronchial tubes.
In those years when Steinberg was still the only doctor in town a flu epidemic hit town. He saw 126 patients in one day. That's not very good medicine but that's what was necessary Steinberg said.
More News
-
New!
More
The Açaí Craze
There is a certain craze around açaí bowls, and for good reason. They're delicious and incredibly nutritious--açaí is packed with fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. And with endless options to customize the smoothie mixture and toppings, once you start making your own açaí bowls at home, you'll look for ways to perfect the already-perfect concoction for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack!
-
New!
More
Vail Health Nurse Helps Find Remains of Missing Hiker
Emily Brown, a nurse in Vail Health's Emergency Department, Transition to Practice Coordinator and Vail Mountain Rescue Group's chief of staff, recently led a team of female rescuers to Mount of the Holy Cross in search of the remains of Michelle Vanek, who vanished nearly 19 years ago.
-
New!
More
Maria Sullivan Honored as Recipient of Vail Health Elevate Award
Maria Sullivan, a post-op registered nurse at Vail Health, has been named the 10th recipient of the Vail Health Elevate Award. Vail Health created the Elevate Award in June 2022 to give patients and their families an opportunity to nominate and thank employees who have touched their lives in some way.