On Sept. 1, after more than three decades of service, Dr. Kim Spence will retire from Roaring Fork Family Practice in Carbondale. But Spence doesn’t necessarily see it as a permanent end of his career.
“I’m officially unemployed on Sept. 1,” he said. “But I’m kind of gonna view it more as a one-year sabbatical. I want to see what it feels like not to have job obligations, and to see what calls me in, what other opportunities.”
Right after his family medicine residency, Spence began practicing in Carbondale on July 31, 1992, and delivered “his” first baby the next day. He joined Roaring Fork Family Practice, which was founded in 1975, when the town was still largely made up of miners, ranchers and upvalley ski and tourist industry workers. “It was exactly what I wanted,” he said.
Spence, who worked as a board certified family physician, said he was drawn to medicine through his early work as a ski patroller and paramedic. “I really got interested in medicine through ski patrolling and the medical knowledge it required,” said Spence. “I loved studying the human body, anatomy and physiology. But I didn’t love being a paramedic.” A physician advisor at the ski area encouraged him to go to medical school, as did his high school biology professor a decade before.
He attended Des Moines University in Iowa, where both his grandfather and uncle also studied osteopathic medicine, and later completed an M.D. residency in family medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Spence then came to Carbondale where he joined Dr. Rick Herrington and Dr. Gary Knaus, who started the practice 17 years prior. Together, they covered a wide variety of medical services. “We practiced obstetrics, pediatrics, geriatrics and everything in between. We’d admit our patients to the hospital from the ER when sick enough to be admitted,” said Spence. “Now there’s a hospitalist program, and wonderful obstetrical providers in the Valley, and a host of specialty care, which is a great change.”
In 2012, Valley View Hospital bought their practice. Two years later, they built the current Roaring Fork Family Practice building. Valley View Hospital “has really supported us in continuing and developing our hometown primary care model,” said Spence.
Over the years, Spence has seen Carbondale change a lot. “The town of Carbondale was less than 3,000 people when I moved here,” he said. “The face of Carbondale has changed. We see more golf shirts these days than we do cowboy boots but all the great elements remain.”
Spence recalled seeing the office change over the years, too. Roaring Fork Family Practice was an early adopter of electronic medical records (EMR) in 1996. At that time, EMR was more of a computerized filing system whereas, “Now, the computerized medical record does so much more … It keeps track of screenings, vaccines and we get records on our patients from everywhere they get care. But it’s expanded the amount of computer work that primary care has to do,” said Spence. Arriving before cell phones did in the Valley, “for the first few years I carried a pocket full of quarters and knew where the pay phones were to answer the pager,” he said.
Even on the busy and stressful days, Spence said it was the work helping patients that kept him going. “Sometimes those tough days were the most rewarding days,” he said. “Because, you know, if there was something that was that tough, you really had to put your heart and soul into it.”
That closeness is what he’ll miss most. “I don’t want to give up the relationships,” he said. “I write down notes on some of my patients that I do want to try and connect with outside of the office … I don’t want to lose that.”
After retirement, Spence is planning to catch up on family time. He has a wife of 36 years and two sons who he’s excited to see on a looser schedule. Spence also plans to run rivers, backpack, listen to and play more music, and ski 100 days in a year. The last time he hit 100 days was in the 1980s when he and his wife worked as ski patrollers in Arizona.
He’ll also make time for his two brothers and 91-year-old mother in Washington. “She still lives independently and drives her sit-on-top mower,” Spence said. “But I want to be available if she needs me for a project or two.”
What he looks forward to most is spontaneity. “It’ll be fun to go on a trip and come home when I’m ready to go home, not when I have to. To say, ‘Oh, there’s that cool canyon up in Utah that I’ve wanted to visit forever. Someday I’ll do that.’ Well, that could be next year.”
While he’s stepping away from full-time practice, Spence isn’t leaving the Valley. “I like it here. It’s a good spot,” said Spence. “I want to thank this great community for nourishing me for 33 years. I envision myself riding my e-bike up the Crystal River when I’m 88, God willing.”