Mountain town locals have a place to call home when times get tough.
On May 16, Vail Health cut the ribbon on the Precourt Healing Center, a purpose-built inpatient behavioral health clinic in Edwards. The photo is courtesy of Chris Dillmann with the Vail Daily.
The clinic, where treatment is offered English and Spanish, is the first of its kind between Denver and Salt Lake City.
“We aim to provide care during times of crisis and empower individuals with the tools to live healthier lives,” Vail Health President and CEO Will Cook said in a statement. “The Precourt Healing Center is a place for people to heal.”
Two weeks before the ribbon cutting the Precourt Center welcomed its first patients. Since then, it has served 11 people, each one spending three to five days in treatment.
The 48,000-square-foot facility has 28 beds for short-term, inpatient care, treating High Country residents suffering from depression, drug addiction and other mental health crises.
Also onsite is art, music and outdoor therapy for patients as young as 12 years old, plus easy access to Vail Health’s sister facilities at Wiegers Mental Health Clinic and the Vail Health Behavioral Health Innovation Center.
“The real work is just beginning. We built a state-of-the-art facility, and now we will provide the care required to not just save lives, but to transform individual and community identities, giving hope and a path forward for those suffering,” said Amanda Precourt, a local philanthropist whose father, Jay Precourt, is the clinic’s namesake. “Mental health is not just an individual issue, it’s a community issue, and this center presents what’s possible when we stop whispering and we start building.”
Since 2019, Vail Health has spent $200 million on behavioral health services in Edwards. Nonprofits like Building Hope in Summit have built robust support networks, but rural clinical services, like Mind Springs Health, have struggled with staffing, funding and allegedly shoddy care.