Gunnison, Utah Nov. 13, 2025 – Living in a rural community shouldn’t mean having fewer options for quality healthcare. At Gunnison Valley Hospital, it’s our honor and responsibility to serve our community with compassionate, high-quality care—right here close to home. Thursday, Nov 20 is National Rural Health Day and in honor of this day we are sharing seven different way we have served our community this year.
1. Bringing Specialists to You
We are constantly striving to benefit our patients through improved health outcomes. One way we are doing this is by bringing additional access and services closer to home. We recognize access to specialists can be a challenge in rural areas, but we bridge that gap by partnering with visiting providers in areas like orthopedics, podiatry, urology, ENT, and oncology/hematology. This means patients can get advanced care without traveling long distances.
Just a few years ago, we welcomed visiting Urologist Dr. Henderson, who performs surgeries at Gunnison Valley Hospital. We also opened a new Telehealth Oncology and Hematology Clinic (as mentioned below) and brought on ENT specialist Dr. Jeffrey Nelson, who likewise performs surgeries at our hospital.
2. Comprehensive Family Care
Over the past two years we have built three new family care facilities, two of which also have a pharmacy attached to the building. One in Gunnison, Manti and Salina: Mid-Utah Family Medicine, Main Street Family Clinic, and Salina Family Medicine. These buildings have given us the added space to serve everyone in need in South Sanpete and North Sevier County. All three of these clinics have a “Rural Health Clinic” status which enables us to deliver cost-effective, quality health care to patients in rural, underserved communities.
Gunnison Valley Hospital was awarded the “2024 Sanpete County Business of the Year” award. The recognition focused on the expansion of high-quality medical services in multiple communities throughout the region. Noting specifically the new family medicine/pharmacy buildings.
3. Emergency and Surgical Excellence
When emergencies happen, time matters. Each year, Gunnison Valley Hospital participates in emergency management drills and training exercises designed to prepare staff for large-scale and unexpected events. These trainings ensure that when emergencies happen, our teams are ready to act with speed, professionalism, and coordinated care.
This preparation paid off in the summer of 2024. A youth group from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salina was hiking in eastern Sevier County when lightning struck the ground nearby during a light rainstorm. Approximately 50 members felt the shock, with seven requiring immediate medical attention. Two children with more serious symptoms were flown to a children’s hospital in Lehi, while the remaining patients were transported to local hospitals in Gunnison and Richfield. Fortunately, none of the injuries are expected to be life-threatening.
Gunnison Valley Hospital received the majority of these patients, with the Emergency Department seeing a surge of 24 patients within a few hours. Thanks to the quick action of our skilled clinicians, every patient was cared for promptly and compassionately.
Gunnison Valley Hospital’s ability to respond so effectively is the result of careful preparation. We are proud of our staff for their exceptional teamwork and dedication in providing quality care during this incident, and we remain committed to serving our community with the highest standards of preparedness and compassion.
4. Investing in Technology and Innovation
We continually invest in advanced medical equipment and technology to bring the latest diagnostic and treatment options to our rural community. From digital imaging to telemedicine services, we make sure our patients have access to modern healthcare—without having to leave home.
This year we added an MRI wing to the hospital offering an “in-house” MRI machine. Over the years we have evolved from a once a week portable MRI, to a permanent MRI trailer parked outside the emergency room entrance, to now a beautiful state-of-the-art MRI and MRI suite. The MRI is a Philips Ingenia Ambition 1.5 Tesla with an ambient surround system. This Ingenia delivers superb image quality even for challenging patients. Our ambient package offers an immersive audio-visual experience to help all patients and guide them through MRI exams.
We have also partnered with Intermountain Health to provide cancer care locally at the new Gunnison Valley Oncology and Hematology Clinic. Gunnison Valley Hospital’s nurses help patients come into a clinic located in Gunnison to do tele-health appoints with IH’s Oncologist/Hematologist Dr. Rice. And nurses also help the patients complete their IV treatments right there in the Gunnison clinic. This wonderful partnership allows improved access to care by reducing financial strain and travel burdens due to our rural setting. It offers our patients increased convenience and flexibility.
5. Making GVH an Enjoyable, Respectable Place to Work
We always find creative and meaningful ways to let our employees know how much we appreciate them. Because of this, year after year Gunnison Valley Hospital has stayed well below the national average of healthcare turnover. Ours is only 7% while the national average is 20.7%. This is crucial for maintaining high quality care, operational efficiency and positive workplace environment.
To highlight two of the things we do to help uplift our employees is, one giving them frequent opportunities/designated time to express their opinions to the CEO. And second, we encourage our employees to have an ‘Own it” mentality. Meaning to take initiative, be accountable, problem solve, and maintain proactive communication.
Our Employees are truly embodying the “Own It” mentality because they are being recognized state-wide. Two of our employees received state-wide awards for their dedicated service. One being our AEMT Vikki McClaskey who received the “AEMY of the Year Award,” for going above and beyond her area of responsibility. And our nurse Barbara Hyett who received the Rural Health Impact Award from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services.
Another way we help make working for GVH easy and enjoyable is by offering on campus child care. We built a new Learning Center so our staff’s children can be close to their parents, and our employees can have the peace of mind that their children are well taken care of while they are working.
Lastly, we are one of the largest providers of higher skilled and higher wage employment in our rural community. Studies show that for every physician working in a rural community, 26.3 additional jobs are created. The directly impacts our economy by providing incomes/benefits, and purchasing good from the local vendors.
6. Putting the Patient First
We promote the mind set “Patient First” in all of our employee trainings. We encourage all of our employees to make interactions personal, help our patients find answers, empower them, and provider seamless communication. We do this by focusing on empathy, friendliness, listening, transparency and support. We also encourage our staff to treat one another with the same respect and kindness.
Statistics show that our Patients are feeling the kindness we are striving to exude based off a national patient satisfaction survey for healthcare providers, called HCAHPS. The results indicated that GVH was ranked a 10/10 or 9/10 by 82% of our patients.
In the annual “Best of Sanpete” awards in 2024 we were award the highest votes in #1 Best Customer Service for our Hospital, #1 Best Pain and Wellness Center – Gunnison Valley Interventional Pain. #1 Best Mental Health Practice – Gunnison Valley Family Practice and Wellness, and #1 Best Homecare and Hospice – Gunnison Valley Home Health and Hospice.
We are grateful to be able to serve our Central Utah communities. By the numbers in 2024, Gunnison Valley Hospital has had 32,637 Out-Patient Visits, 147 Baby Deliveries, 2,636 In-Patient Days, 9,087 Home Health Visits, 1,864 Surgeries and Procedures, 40,810 Meals Served, 4,023 Emergency Department Patients, 560 Ambulance Patients, and have 260 GVH Employees.
At Gunnison Valley Hospital, our mission is simple: to care for our community with excellence, compassion, and integrity—every day of the year. Rural health matters, and we’re honored to help our community receive the best health care possible!
