For over 25 years, Debbie Scripps has watched Vail Health grow from a small hospital known for exceptional orthopedic care into a comprehensive community health care system. Her latest gift to the Precourt Healing Center and the Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center (BHIC) is helping advance innovative, comprehensive care in our region.
“Vail Health is reinvesting in the community it serves,” says Debbie. “Supporting Vail Health means investing in health care close to home.”
It was a friend who first introduced Debbie to the behavioral health work underway at Vail Health. A tour of the Precourt Healing Center followed, and her interest took off from there.
Raised in a Culture of Giving
Debbie grew up in Dallas, Texas, where she watched her parents make a difference in the community — her father coached her brothers in sports and cheered her on at swim meets, while her mother volunteered weekly to read books for the blind. “Giving back was a part of our culture,” she says.
She met her late husband, Ric, at Drake University in Iowa and learned they had a similar upbringing. The two married in 1972, lived in Minnesota, and then moved to Dallas with their three sons.
Debbie began volunteering at Children’s Medical Center Dallas, joined the board, and became chair of its foundation, where she still serves. Ric grew equally involved with the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. Their shared commitment to children’s causes later led them to start a family foundation of their own, focused on empowering youth and the underserved, health research, and education.
Making Vail a Second Home
The Scripps family began visiting Vail in the 1980s, staying in Debbie’s uncle’s condo, where their three boys learned to ski. She and Ric purchased a home of their own in 2000. Today, her grandchildren are learning to ski on the same mountain.
In 2023, Ric passed away. By then, the family had been spending half the year in the valley, and they decided to keep it that way. “We love the valley and feel blessed to be here,” she says.
Before he died, Ric told Debbie they were putting too much into their estate. “We need to give while we’re alive, while we can see it,” he said. “I’ve tried to live up to that,” she says.
Debbie is deeply involved in our Vail community. She helped build a Habitat for Humanity home, sits on the Bravo! board representing the Dallas Symphony during its summer visits to Vail, and, most recently, supports Vail Health.
Investing in Behavioral Health
“In many ways, behavioral health touches every family, every community, and certainly every generation. It doesn’t discriminate,” says Debbie. “People often suffer in silence. By supporting behavioral health, we send a message to those who are struggling that they’re seen and valued and that they’re not alone.”
Debbie hopes her gift offers healing through holistic care at the Precourt Healing Center and supports BHIC’s research into new approaches to treating mental health conditions.
“It’s an investment in people, parents, children, veterans, friends, neighbors, and loved ones whose lives could be changed because of access to care.” – Debbie Scripps