{"id":88875,"date":"2026-03-10T13:30:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=88875"},"modified":"2026-03-13T14:13:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:13:51","slug":"familys-role-shaping-the-anschutz-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/familys-role-shaping-the-anschutz-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"From their farm to an academic medical center, this couple drives hours for care at the Anschutz campus he helped create"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Don
Don and Patty Ament built their home on the family farm in 1982. They moved to the Logan County farm in 1964 after graduating from the University of Colorado with Don\u2019s engineering degree and Patty\u2019s French degree. Don\u2019s father, Ronald Ament, was president of Thompson Pipe & Steel in Denver. As a weekend farmer, he expanded the farm to 2,000 acres, so Don and Patty moved to Logan County to run the farm. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don Ament and his wife, Patty, live on a family farm in northeastern Colorado that his grandfather created more than 100 years ago.<\/p>\n

While the Aments love the serenity of the farm, they happily drive more than three hours each way to see their doctors. And each time Patty and Don see the tall buildings at University of Colorado Anschutz<\/a>\u00a0rising before them to the west, they feel enormous pride. That\u2019s because Don played a key role decades ago in paving the way for the Anschutz campus to become the new home of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital<\/a>, the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine<\/a>, Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado<\/a>, the Rocky Mountain VA Regional Medical Cente<\/a>r, along with multiple research labs and medical innovation centers.<\/p>\n

Don served on his local school board, then became interested in state politics and served in the Colorado Legislature from 1987 to 1999 as a Republican representative and senator. Former Gov. Bill Owens later picked Don as his agriculture secretary, and he served the state of Colorado in that role for eight years from 1999 to 2007.<\/p>\n

During his time in the Colorado legislature, Don became deeply involved in the redevelopment of the former Fitzsimons Army Base<\/a> into what became the new University of Colorado in January of 2008.<\/p>\n

\"Don
Don Ament served in the Colorado State Legislature from 1986 to 1998. In 1999, Gov. Bill Owens appointed him State Commissioner of Agriculture, where Don served until 2006. His home office reflects his life of public service. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe hospital was constrained in the former site,\u201d said Don\u2019s daughter, Mandy Moorer, who shares her parents\u2019 deep commitment to University of Colorado Hospital and the Anschutz campus. She began her association with the hospital 24 years ago as a nursing student and serves now as the director of patient services and critical care.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoving to the current location was transformational for the academic medical center and for the University of Colorado,\u201d Moorer said.<\/p>\n

Her father agreed: \u201cIt was very clear they could no longer carry out their function, not as a school or a hospital. It was outdated, and it wasn\u2019t too hard to sell people on the concept that a new hospital and school were needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As chairman of the legislature\u2019s Capital Development Committee in the 1990s, Don helped spearhead support for the hospital\u2019s transformation.\u00a0During his legislative tenure, he also developed relationships with UCHealth doctors and began receiving care from University of Colorado doctors. Don\u2019s positive experiences with his doctors inspired his wife to do the same.<\/p>\n

\"Don
Don and Patty\u2019s daughter, Mandy Moorer, left, started her UCHealth career at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital as a nursing student 24 years ago. She is now the director of patient services for critical care at University of Colorado Hospital. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Innovative academic medical campus generates major impacts in the Denver area, the state and the Rocky Mountain region<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the Aments arrived for medical appointments at the hospital on a recent day and received assistance from a valet<\/a> for an appointment with their doctor of 15 years, few people they encountered at the bustling hospital knew the key role Don played in developing the Anschutz campus into what has now become home to the large academic medical center. It\u2019s now UCHealth\u2019s hub for what has grown into a 15-hospital system stretching from Pueblo to the south to Fort Collins, Greeley and Steamboat to the north and west.<\/p>\n

Despite the Aments\u2019 long commute to Aurora, they have chosen to continue receiving all of their health care at Anschutz. That decision is rooted in Don\u2019s pride in the hospital\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place has had a huge impact on more than just the metro Denver area. Its growth has impacted communities throughout the state in both urban and rural communities,\u201d Don said. \u201cEach time we come here, it seems like there are new buildings and new energy. It\u2019s really comforting to know that Denver has an institution like this. It\u2019s been so rewarding for us personally to get to know the doctors and staff here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Medicine is a family affair for the Aments. Their oldest daughter, Debbie, who lives on a portion of the family farm, manages a dialysis clinic; Don\u2019s sister is a retired neonatal intensive care unit nurse, and her husband is an orthopedic surgeon. Both, like Moorer, went to what was then known as the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center when it was located at 9th<\/sup> Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Denver.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur family\u2019s relationship with UCHealth has come full circle,\u201d the Aments\u2019 daughter said.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019s grandfather and uncles leave Europe for the fertile land of northeastern Colorado <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Don has deep roots in Colorado. His ancestors were German farmers who lived in Russia, and his grandfather and uncles emigrated to America in 1914. They bought land in Proctor in northeastern Colorado\u2019s Logan County, where they grew sugar beets, corn, alfalfa and wheat.<\/p>\n

\"Don\u2019s
Don\u2019s grandfather, George Ament, was German and before immigrating to the U.S., grew sugar beets in Russia. When the Russians tried to conscript George Ament into their army in 1914, he and his brothers came to the U.S. They purchased 640 acres in Logan County and began dryland wheat farming. The nascent North Sterling Water District enabled them to irrigate the fields to grow sugar beets and hay for their livestock. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don was raised in Denver and is a graduate of East High School. He spent weekends on the farm, working the land, while wife Patty grew up in Arvada. Don\u2019s mom got him interested in playing the saxophone in grade school (a hobby that would catch Patty\u2019s eye many years later when he was in a band at University of Colorado Boulder<\/a> and played in the university\u2019s symphonic band).<\/p>\n

The two met as young students on campus in 1961 while Patty was helping with student council elections. They married three years later, a few months after each graduated from University of Colorado, he with an engineering degree, she with a degree in French.<\/p>\n

The couple decided to move to the family farm where Don and Patty raised their three children: Debbie, Mandy and their son, J.J.<\/p>\n

\"Before
Before modern equipment, this 1930s dump rake was pulled by huge white horses named Rock and Rye. George Ament, Don\u2019s grandfather, used it to rake hay. Photo by Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Introduction to University of Colorado Hospital: It all started with a hernia<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Don likes to tell a funny story about how his relationship with UCHealth began with a hernia.<\/p>\n

It was 1987, and as a state lawmaker, Don was friendly with all the lobbyists, including one from University of Colorado Hospital back when it was located at 9th<\/sup> Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. That is also where thousands of students, including Moorer, went to nursing and medical school.<\/p>\n

After mentioning that he was dealing with a hernia, Don\u2019s lobbyist friend encouraged him to get help at University of Colorado Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I knew I was laying on a gurney to get my hernia operated on,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve been a UCHealth family ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don trusted the hospital with two more hernia procedures, as well as several other medical issues that he and his wife Patty have faced.<\/p>\n

Over the next few decades, these health challenges have included:<\/p>\n