Telluride Art Goes to Washington

By Julia Caulfield

Photo by Julia Caulfield (KOTO)

Take a trip down memory lane. To March 2020.

In a newscast from March 18, 2020, KOTO News reported, “with coronavirus spreading across the world, local health officials have been moving fast to keep residents of San Miguel County safe and healthy. Over the past week there have been declared local disaster emergencies, schools and libraries have closed, food establishments are switching to take out only, or closing all together. Now we’re being told to shelter in place.

In Telluride, one of the first things to go was the Free Box. But where some saw a beloved town staple gone, one person saw an opportunity.

‘My name is Brandon Berkel. I’m a local artist in Telluride, Colorado. When you see something you really like you have to just move fast and take it.’

What Berkel saw was a mural canvas.

Just days after the free box was boarded up, the original plywood was transformed into a community art installation.”

courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution

Those around in the early days of the pandemic will remember the free box mural. A cowboy with Tom Hanks’ face, covered in a mask, spraying a large green germ. A quote from Toy Story “this town ain’t big enough for the two of us” written at the top.

“Berkel says part of the beauty of the mural is that it won’t be there forever.

‘The mural will be taken down. The Free Box will be open again. The Town will start moving as it always has. It’s still giving little hope that we’re going to make it through this.’” the newscast reported.

courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution

But that mural was just the beginning. Jump to months later in the pandemic, Berkel, along with fellow local artist Molly Perrault-Daniel created a series of posters, encouraging residents to COVID safely.

“If you remember in 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic there were some very scary public notice graphics around town ‘stay at home’ ‘where a mask’ they looked very governmental,” says Perrault-Daniel.

She says it was Berkel’s idea to take the energy from the mural, and create posters to soften the blow.

She says the idea was “to replace the scary public announcement posters and have a friendlier approach to these very important messages that need to go out to locals, visitors, to politely ask them to wear a mask, make sure public distancing, all the messages that went out over COVID.”

Perrault-Daniel and Berkel – in collaboration with the Telluride Arts District – created a series of collage posters.

“They’re just funny little animal faces that we slapped on human bodies,” recalls Berkel. “Local animals: elk, beavers, bobcats, fun little western animals. People. Animal people.”

courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution

For months, the artwork hung as a banner across Main Street, on signs along the Spur, as posters around town.

Jump even more years in the future, to now, and those posters are part of Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History archives. The Smithsonian is collecting art and artifacts to preserve and document moments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was spring of 2021, I got a phone call from Ellen Kramer,” Berkel says, “She bought out our posters at the Transfer Warehouse in 2020. She saw that the Smithsonian was collecting COVID art, so she thought it would be fun to donate it and see if she can get her name in the Smithsonian.”

In a description of the art, the Smithsonian comments on the United States’ long history of using posters (humorous at times) for public service announcements, noting Berkel and Perrault-Daniel’s work does just that. Reflecting “both a humorous approach as well as imagery which specifically reflects the community and history of Telluride.”

The posters aren’t on display anywhere (at least currently) but Berkel and Perrault-Daniel say it’s an honor to have their art recognized.

“My grandmother is so pumped. She’s been telling everyone. My family is very proud,” chuckles Berkel, “I don’t have a college degree, but by having this thing archived it gives the feeling that I did something with my education, which was art growing up. It’s like a certificate that I did something.”

Perrault-Daniel, who also works at the Telluride Historical Museum adds it’s not just about them, but the future, and the past.

“It’s a cool reminder that we’re history in the making,” she says, “We’re making history as we go. These posters that we made less than five years ago are part of our active history and people are going to look back on that. And we contributed to it.”

courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution

As for what’s next for the artists?

“I’m just going to keep on making collages,” Berkel says “Cutting things up.”

That way they’ll be ready. For the next global pandemic.

San Miguel County Administers First COVID-19 Vaccines

By Julia Caulfield

Dr. Diana Koelliker receives her COVID-19 vaccines (courtesy of San Miguel County)

The Telluride Regional Medical Center’s Depot Respiratory Clinic is buzzing. The first Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are being administered to medical professionals across the county.

Dr. Diana Koelliker, Director of Emergeny and Trauma Services at the Telluride Medical Center, Dr. Paul Koelliker, and ER Nurse Aaron Clark are the first to go in Telluride.

Dr. Diana Koelliker and her husband, Dr. Paul Koelliker prepare to get the COVID-19 vaccine (courtesy of San Miguel County)

If you ask them, the act of getting the vaccine, is not a huge deal.

“Physically it’s just like any other vaccine. It’s a small needle, it hurts a tiny bit, but it’s not a big deal at all,” says Dr. Paul Koelliker.

But obviously vaccine day is more than just getting a shot.

“We have been anxiously waiting for today,” says Dr. Christine Mahoney, Director of Primary Care at the Telluride Regional Medical Center, “It is amazing. It’s hard to put into words. It’s a step towards the end of this. I feel like it’s a day of solidarity with all the healthcare works across the world who have been living through this.”

That sense of comradery and connection with scientists and doctors is apparent throughout the afternoon. The COVID vaccine has been developed faster than any vaccine in history, and Dr. Diana Koelliker says it’s because of those scientists and doctors who sprang into action.

“It’s kind of amazing that we have gotten to this point so quickly. I am shocked,” she says, “and really that is because worldwide our medical community, our scientist, came together and developed all of these vaccines.”

And beyond COVID she says it’s an amazing day for science.

“Not only is this going to revolutionize how we can end this pandemic,” she notes, “but I think it’s actually going to have huge applications for all other kinds of things. So, this is historic for so many reasons. For medicine it’s a turning point.”

San Miguel County – between the Public Health Department and the Telluride Medical Center – received a total number of 200 vaccines in the first rollout. On Wednesday, 50 vaccines were administered in Telluride, with another 30 administered at the Uncompahgre Medical Center in Norwood.

By Saturday evening all 200 vaccines in the county should be administered. Officials expect more doses will arrive in the coming weeks.

But despite the monumental day, Dr. Koelliker recognizes this is actually just the beginning.

She says “we’ve got a million other people we have to have the same thing happen to. Or in our county, we have another 8,000 people to give this to. So we got to move on and keep our eye on the prize, which is everyone getting the vaccine and helping to get to that herd immunity spot where so this doesn’t have to alter every single day of our life.”

For the time being, COVID will continue to affect our everyday, but one by one residents across San Miguel County and the world are getting stuck with a needle, containing the vaccine which will slowly pull us out of the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Paul Koelliker receives his COVID-19 vaccine (courtesy of San Miguel County)

San Miguel County Shifts to Safer at Home Level Red

By Julia Caulfield

San Miguel County is moving to Safer at Home Level Red: Severe Risk.

The county’s COVID case numbers have been on the rise for weeks.

“We’ve now more than doubled the bi-weekly cases for COVID than what we had in our July peak,” says San Miguel County Public Health Director Grace Franklin. She says the county was allowed a brief window of time to get case numbers moving in the right direction, but that hasn’t happened.

“Seeing were we are now, there’s not much of a shift without taking policy action,” she says, ”so we will be moving into that Level Red of the State dial.”

Franklin made the announcement at a San Miguel Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday. The new level affects most industry and private gatherings.

“Personal gatherings, private or public, are no longer allowed. In the last few dials it was up to 10 people no more than two households,” Franklin says, “in Level Red, for gatherings it’s ‘please stick to your households and do not gather’.”

Retail, offices, and gyms will have capacity limited even further – and working remotely is recommended when possible.

“Indoor dining will be closed. Takeout, curbside, delivery, to go, and outdoor dining – as long as spacing is appropriate between households – is okay,” she notes.

Bars are still to remain closed, unless they serve food, and County Commissioner Hilary Cooper notes food service, must be substantial.

“It cannot be a microwave or a bag of popcorn,” Cooper emphasizes, “we understand our bars have been hit extremely hard by this. But we’ve been a little lenient around here, allowing our bars to operate this summer, and we just want to make sure you don’t lose your liquor license because you don’t have the correct information.”

Level Red also places last call at 8 p.m. but Franklin adds that cutoff isn’t just for bars and restaurants.

“It’s our businesses as well. It’s not a curfew, people can still be walking around, but the intent is not having those late nights,” she says.

On Tuesday, Governor Jared Polis also warned businesses against defying new COVID regulations.

“I think it’s a time for every Coloradan, and that includes county elected officials too, to really asking themselves ‘are you on the side of the virus? Or are you on the side of Colorado?’” the Governor cautioned.

The warning came after some business owners on the Front Range said they would not follow public health orders in their counties. Polis says the state may need to punish businesses that do not comply to protect customers from the virus.

On top of the state’s Level Red restrictions, in San Miguel County, lodging will be capped at 50% and the County is adding an additional provision that will require guests in a lodging unit to be from the same household.

“So a good example would be if I was go hang out with my family and rent a place here. I don’t live with them typically throughout the year and so we would be considered two separate households, which would not be allowed,” notes Franklin, “but Dr. Grundy, with her husband and kid, they could go and rent a place because they are all one household.”

Lodging guests will also be prohibited from visiting others or hosting gatherings within their lodging unit – such as a condo, or hotel.

Education is allowed to stay in person, hybrid, or remote, based on what is deemed appropriate, and the Telluride Ski Resort will still be allowed to operate lifts – however businesses, lodging, and restaurants associated with Telski will be required to comply with Level Red restrictions.

When it comes to getting out of level red, Franklin says that will require a shift in positivity and incident rates, and hospital capacity. The Public Health Department will continue to monitor trends, and reassess San Miguel County’s level in about two weeks.

And if the county does shift back to level Orange, Franklin says the community will need to take deliberate steps to figure out what a slight reopening looks like.

“What worked in the summer does not work as well now,” says Franklin, “and we really need to reevaluate what that looks like for each industry and each business.”

San Miguel County will enter into Stay at Home Level Red: Severe Risk at 1 a.m. on Friday morning, November 27th.

The Reality of Living Through COVID-19

By Julia Caulfield

Morgan Smith and his wife, Sarah Lavender Smith

Morgan Smith isn’t the kind of person you may expect to be hit by COVID-19.

“I’m 53. I’m in good shape. It’s often hard to qualify that answer because my wife is an ultra-runner, and she runs hundred mile races. So in comparison to that, I’m like a couch potato,” said Smith, “but I love hiking throughout all the mountains here. I don’t smoke, I don’t have diabetes, I don’t have any of the risk factors that would be considered serious.”

But in March month, Smith found himself on oxygen at Montrose Memorial Hospital after a CT scan showed he had viral pneumonia in both of his lungs and symptoms for coronavirus.

“My wife had to say goodbye in the driveway without coming inside because of the exposure risk, and I stayed there for two days for observation to make sure the oxygen was helping and I wasn’t going to need anything more serious or go to the ICU,” said Smith.

Smith’s experience with COVID-19 began earlier in the month, after picking his son up from college.

“They had called to say that it was time to come and get everyone and bring them home,” said Smith.

According to Smith, his son showed mild symptoms of coronavirus, a slight cough. Then his wife and daughter ended up with low fevers.

But for him, he didn’t have a fever at all – at least at the beginning. There was a slight cough, and fatigue.

“I had a day where I basically stayed in bed all day. I woke up, had breakfast, fell back asleep, woke up for lunch, and fell back asleep, and then woke up for dinner and slept all night, which was highly unusual. But I didn’t feel bad,” said Smith.

After a few days, the symptoms got worse.

Smith said,“I started experiencing really bad aches and pains all throughout my body. My skin hurt to touch at all.”

He was still having a hard time getting out of bed.

“I was having something that was almost similar to hallucinations in that I was by no means sleeping for 24 hours, so I’d be awake for hours on end, but in my mind, what was going on was very similar to dreaming,” said Smith.

It culminated at the end of March. Smith’s wife woke him in the middle of the night. His breathing was rapid, and he had a 103-degree fever. She told him he needed to get to the Telluride Medical Center.

Smith said,“I didn’t want to. I was saying ‘let’s just wait until later, I don’t want to do that now”. It turns out when I got there, my blood-oxygen level was down at 74. What was happening was I was not making rational decisions in any way whatsoever.”

The Med Center tested him for COVID-19, although the positive test result would take several days to return. Medical providers took that CT scan which showed viral pneumonia and put him on oxygen. From there Smith headed to Montrose.

At the hospital, he was in a room by himself.

“They left me there with all of my thoughts. You start having those thoughts like this may be it,” said Smith, “This may be the last memory that I have in this sterile room where I don’t get to see anyone that I know ever again.”

Around 1 a.m. Smith’s oxygen levels started dropping again – even while he was on an oxygen machine.

“It was terrifying, honestly terrifying, because I knew what the results of that could mean. I could mean that my lungs were in fact in the process of failing, and if that’s true that meant I had to go on a ventilator of which I knew there was only a 20% chance of ever coming off of,” said Smith.

Ask Smith about the incident now, and he’ll say in retrospect, it had a funny ending. As it turns out, Smith says his nose was congested, blocking the oxygen from getting to his lungs. A quick rinse of saline and all was well. But that doesn’t change the real fear in the moment.

“I was basically in a position of thinking the absolute worst,” said Smith, “of I might be in a position where I never see my family again.”

Smith was released from the hospital the following morning, and he’s making a full recovery. But he says the experience shifted the way he sees the preventative measures of sheltering in place and staying at home.

“Now that I know how serious it is, and I understand what would happen if a whole lot of people got to the level that I was at the same time; what we are doing as a country is the most import thing we could possibly be doing,” said Smith.

Smith is one of 13 in San Miguel County to test positive for COVID-19 so far. The county’s stay at home orders are in effect until midnight on May 1st.

Technology Sustains Addiction Recovery Communities During Covid

By Matt Hoisch

Picture by cogdogblog, Wikimedia Commons.

Davo is looking forward to an upcoming milestone.

“If I’m lucky enough to make it,” he says, “I’ll have 15 years sober next month.”

Davo lives in the Telluride area. We’re not using his last name because he wants to remain anonymous.

When we spoke, “next month” meant April. But Davo is also sheltering in place because of the coronavirus, so he’s unsure what he’ll do.

“You know, normally we have celebrations at meetings, and we get these coins that show 15 years or whatever,” Davo explains. “People bring a cake or whatever. We have cake after the meeting and we go out to dinner. This year since it’s next month, who knows if that’ll even happen or not.”

That “we” he’s talking about is members of his recovery community. Each individual is different, but many people, when recovering from alcoholism or drug use or any kind of addiction, rely on the support of others to recover and to avoid relapsing. But when people socially isolate to avoid the coronavirus, that can be hard.

Lynton Moore has lived in the area for three decades and used to be the substance abuse provider for San Miguel County. Now she has a private practice. “There are so many circumstances that could be triggering,” she says. “Especially if there’s trauma in the background. Like a lack of foundation, a lack of knowing, a lack of security. It’s easy to lose a sense of presence.”

Moore says those social connections are a powerful way to prevent relapse, which, according to her, doesn’t just happen at the flip of a switch. She says relapse can occur after weeks or even months of gradual changes in behavior and thought. 

“And you have to actually work. It’s almost like battling yourself again. And that’s why reaching out to people is really important, so that you’re not just stuck in the mind that just keeps going round and round and round.”

One way Davo is helping himself and others do that work while isolating is through virtual meetings on platforms like Zoom.

“It was no different,” he says, “except that we were seeing each other on a computer instead of in person.”

Well, there is at least one difference: unlike meeting in-person, digitally, people can join from anywhere. People like Aaron. Again, we’re only using his first name. Aaron lived in Telluride for 20 years. It’s where he got sober. Now he lives in Brooklyn, where, he says, his recovery community is less connected than it was Telluride. When he got an invite from his old roommate to join the Telluride Zoom meetings, he didn’t expect how meaningful it would be.

“I didn’t realize the level of anxiety and stress that I had been dealing with because it was built up over the course of a few weeks. And the connections, the human connections and the recovery connections, had been dwindling and dwindling,” Aaron recalls. “And then I connected with the group in Telluride via Zoom, and it gave me a pretty deep sense of comfort knowing that they were all there in the world, doing the same thing that I was. It was really comforting beyond anything that I thought it would be.”

Digital recovery communities aren’t anything new. They were around before the coronavirus pandemic. Chris Pesce is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Sober Grid, an app that helps people connect with others nearby and throughout the world in recovery. Through surveys, his team found that while many users are looking for help to get sober, just as many are sober people looking to help. 

“About half of those who responded let us know that they were in early recovery or still struggling,” Pesce explains. “And they were really using it as a lifeline, as a means to receive support. But interestingly, the other half of those who responded, many of them indicated that the were in longer term recovery. Sometimes five, ten, 15 years, or more. And their primary reason for using the app was to support others as a means of how they maintain their own program of recovery.”

Pesce notes that during widespread social distancing, users are sharing and posting on the app, and his team has started hosting their own Zoom meetings for users.

Mindsets also help. Aaron says one idea from his recovery that is also motivating him during this pandemic is taking things one day at a time. “This thing isn’t gonna last forever,” he says, “but it’s gonna last for right now.”

Davo shares a similar sentiment as he thinks about his upcoming milestone.

“I’ll be happy that I have 15 years of sobriety, but what’s important is 15 years and one day.”

Video meetings aren’t for everyone, and they aren’t some sort of universal solution. Again, everyone’s recovery is different. Lynton Moore, for instance, worries that, at least in Telluride, there aren’t enough ways for younger people to connect and work toward recovery. But, especially in times of necessary isolation, technology can help some people, like Davo and Aaron and many more, connect and keep up their recoveries—one day at a time. 

Integrative Medicine Looks to Offer Relief to Healthcare System

By Julia Caulfield

Across the county and world, health systems are being stretched thin due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While western systems and forms of medicine reach their limits, some are turning to different forms of medicine.

“Integrative medicine is basically the combination of using Western medicine approaches and a number of other modalities for healing” says Dr. Christine Mahoney, Acting Medical Director and Family Doctor at the Telluride Medical Center.

She says those modalities can almost be endless, and include things like mindfulness, Chinese medicine, homeopathy, massage, and nutrition.

In San Miguel County, several practitioners are using integrative medicine to serve the community and support the work of the medical center.

Joshua Geetter is a licensed acupuncturist and a clinical and production herbalist. He focuses primarily on Chinese medicine.

Getter says, “Chinese medicine is the base medical model, which has been used to support the most populous county in the world - for written record for 3,000 years , but really a lot of this was handed down by oral tradition before that, and we have the evidence going back to really contend that it’s probably 10,000 years old or more.”

According to Geetter, Chinese medicine has five main components: diet and nutrition, acupuncture, moxibustion (or the burning of herbs), body work, and meditation.

“What’s most prescient and efficacious for us right now, especially with ‘shelter in place’ and social distancing would be the herbal medicine, which happens to be the standard of care in the ancient Chinese medicine for epidemiology” says Geetter.

Christopher Beaver is a trained homeopath and holistic practitioner, and also uses herbal remedies to support people through sickness.

Beaver says, “homeopathy is a medical system based on the idea that the body is its own natural pharmacy. We look at the individual in its totality. We don’t just look at one single symptom, but we look at the person as a whole.”

Geetter and Beaver have been practicing in San Miguel County for years, but in the time of COVID, they both see the work as a way to support a strained healthcare system.

Beaver says, “These other methods have a great moment to help and to shine, to help alleviate some of the stress and pressure that our medical center - which is doing everything it possibly can, and more, and working tirelessly. I think complementary medicine modalities can actually be very beneficial in a moment like this.”

Dr. Mahoney says when integrative medicine and western medicine come together, there can be a benefit to the community.

“It’s really combining and layering them on top, which can have a profound effect on overall reduction of illness and keeping people healthy” she says.

Mahoney notes there isn’t data that shows certain supplements help prevent, or fight COVID…

“But we do know for viral bronchitis, umcka (which is an over the counter, herbal medicine) that helps with other viruses that cause upper respiratory infections. So we can extrapolate, and say, ‘that’s probably going to be supportive of COVID as well’”.

Geetter and Beaver both provide in person consultations, however, given the stay at home orders, they are currently only providing consultations through telemedicine, or a phone conversation.

“Given a few questions, and little bit of interview, I can asses what’s needed and then prescribe that which is accorded across the world as being the best right now” says Geetter.

He says he draws on protocols developed by hospitals in China and the government to prescribe remedies – some of which he says are common plants and herbs in our area, including honeysuckle.

“Another one of the main herbs that is used is milkvetch root, which is used in the western part of the county as a cover crop, and as a nitrogen fixer. That’s know as astragalus in the Latin, or huang qi in Chinese, and it promotes both proliferation of T-cell generalized immunity, and B-cell specific immunity.” says Geetter.

Beaver points to supplements that help boost the immune system, but he also notes, it’s more than prescribing remedies. He makes sure to note that we’re going through the COVID pandemic as a community, and sometimes simply checking in with people to see how they’re doing is enough.

Beaver says,“It might elevate some of the anxiety or the fears and anxiousness that people might be having, or people might have.”

When it comes to the efficacy of integrative medicine in San Miguel County, Geetter notes the effort from the community to combat COVID provides the perfect atmosphere for different forms of integrative medicine to thrive.

Geeter notes,“The fact that we have a community where we’re already rallying around things like testing, and ‘shelter in place’, we’re already engaged. Because of all this, we have an incredible opportunity to put this Chinese medicine into gear as part of the combine efforts, and really benefit all of us.”

Integrative medicine is an evidence based practice, however it should be used in consultation with your primary care provider.

Beaver is providing his services for free through mid-April. Geetter says he’s in talks with the Medical Center and the County to coordinate care.