State of the Valley: Leaders Talk Challenges, Exude Optimism at Annual Vail Symposium Forum
The Vail Symposium’s State of the Valley panel this year brought a broad array of perspectives to a number of topics, but most shared a general optimism about the community and its future.
Discussing the current state of the valley, Paige Baker-Braxton, Vail Health’s director of outpatient behavioral health, acknowledged that the state of the valley from her perspective is “complicated,” with problems of substance abuse, along with decades of undertreated or untreated mental health issues. Responding to another question about mental health challenges from panel moderator Tom Moorhead, a former district judge, Baker-Braxton said she doesn’t want people to think there aren’t answers to hard questions and encouraged people to have more dinner conversations, with less alcohol and screen time.
Magda King, the general manager of the Antlers Vail, is also a member of the Eagle Valley Behavioral Health Board of Directors. King said she tries to focus as much as possible on the 50 employees at the Antlers and their families. “You do what is possible within your reach,” King said.
An audience member noted that older people are the fastest-growing segment of the valley’s population, and asked what’s being done to address the needs of those people. “That’s something we’ve been grappling with,” Vail Health CEO Will Cook said, adding that the community may have to come together to do something similar to what’s been done with behavioral health over the past several years.
